Overview ,
The Storm on the Sea of Galilee (1633), is still missing after the
robbery from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990.|left In a letter to Huygens, Rembrandt offered the only surviving explanation of what he sought to achieve through his art, writing that, "the greatest and most natural movement", translated from
de meeste en de natuurlijkste beweegelijkheid. The word "
beweegelijkheid" translates to "emotion" or "motive". Whether this refers to objectives, material, or something else, is not known but critics have drawn particular attention to the way Rembrandt seamlessly melded the earthly and spiritual. Earlier 20th century connoisseurs claimed Rembrandt had produced well over 600 paintings, nearly 400 etchings and 2,000 drawings. More recent scholarship, from the 1960s to the present day (led by the
Rembrandt Research Project), often controversially, has winnowed his oeuvre to nearer 300 paintings. His
prints, traditionally all called etchings, although many are produced in whole or part by
engraving and sometimes
drypoint, have a much more stable total of slightly under 300. It is likely Rembrandt made many more drawings in his lifetime than 2,000 but those extant are rarer than presumed. Two experts claim that the number of drawings whose autograph status can be regarded as effectively "certain" is no higher than about 75, although this is disputed. The list was to be unveiled at a scholarly meeting in February 2010. '' (1637) At one time, approximately 90 paintings were counted as
Rembrandt self-portraits but it is now known that he had his students copy his own self-portraits as part of their training. Modern scholarship has reduced the autograph count to over forty paintings, as well as a few drawings and thirty-one etchings, which include many of the most remarkable images of the group. Some show him posing in quasi-historical fancy dress, or pulling faces at himself. His oil paintings trace the progress from an uncertain young man, through the dapper and very successful portrait-painter of the 1630s, to the troubled but massively powerful portraits of his old age. Together they give a remarkably clear picture of the man, his appearance and his psychological make-up, as revealed by his richly weathered face. In his portraits and self-portraits, he angles the sitter's face in such a way that the ridge of the nose nearly always forms the line of demarcation between brightly illuminated and shadowy areas. A Rembrandt face is a face partially eclipsed; and the nose, bright and obvious, thrusting into the riddle of halftones, serves to focus the viewer's attention upon, and to dramatize, the division between a flood of light—an overwhelming clarity—and a brooding duskiness. In some of his biblical works, including
The Raising of the Cross,
Joseph Telling His Dreams, and
The Stoning of Saint Stephen, Rembrandt painted himself as a character in the crowd. Durham suggests that this was because the Bible was for Rembrandt "a kind of diary, an account of moments in his own life". Among the more prominent characteristics of Rembrandt's work are his use of
chiaroscuro, the theatrical employment of light and shadow derived from
Caravaggio, or, more likely, from the
Dutch Caravaggisti but adapted for very personal means. Also notable are his dramatic and lively presentation of subjects, devoid of the rigid formality that his contemporaries often displayed, and a deeply felt compassion for mankind, irrespective of wealth and age. His immediate family—his wife Saskia, his son Titus and his common-law wife Hendrickje—often figured prominently in his paintings, many of which had
mythical, biblical or historical subjects.
Periods, subjects and styles (1632) has been described as "...a shining example of the 'golden age' of
Baroque painting". Throughout his career, Rembrandt took as his most common subjects portraits, narrative or "
history paintings", mostly biblical, and
landscapes. He was especially praised by his contemporaries for his biblical subjects, for his skill in representing emotions, and attention to detail. Stylistically, his paintings progressed from the early "smooth" manner, characterized by fine technique in the portrayal of illusionistic form, to the late "rough" treatment of richly variegated paint surfaces, which allowed for an illusionism of form suggested by the tactile quality of the paint itself. Rembrandt must have realized that if he kept the paint deliberately loose and "paint-like" on some parts of the canvas, the perception of space became much greater. A parallel development may be seen in Rembrandt's skill as a printmaker. In the etchings of his maturity, particularly from the late 1640s onward, the freedom and breadth of his drawings and paintings found expression in the print medium as well. The works encompass a wide range of subject matter and technique, sometimes leaving large areas of white paper to suggest space, at other times employing complex webs of line to produce rich dark tones. Lastman's influence on Rembrandt was most prominent during his period in Leiden from 1625 to 1631. Paintings were rather small but rich in details (for example, in costumes and jewelry). Religious and
allegorical subjects were favored, as were
tronies. During his early years in Amsterdam (1632–1636), Rembrandt began to paint dramatic biblical and mythological scenes in high contrast and of large format (
The Blinding of Samson, 1636, ''
Belshazzar's Feast, c. 1635 Danaë'', 1636 but reworked later), seeking to emulate the baroque style of
Rubens. With the occasional help of assistants in Uylenburgh's workshop, he painted numerous portrait commissions both small (
Jacob de Gheyn III) and large (
Portrait of the Shipbuilder Jan Rijcksen and his Wife, 1633,
Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, 1632). By the late 1630s, Rembrandt had produced a few paintings and many etchings of
landscapes. Often these landscapes highlighted natural drama, featuring uprooted trees and ominous skies (
Cottages before a Stormy Sky, c. 1641;
The Three Trees, 1643). From 1640 his work became less exuberant and more sober in tone, possibly reflecting personal tragedy. Biblical scenes were now derived more often from the
New Testament than the
Old Testament, as had been the case before. In 1642 he painted
The Night Watch, the most substantial of the important group portrait commissions which he received in this period, and through which he sought to find solutions to compositional and narrative problems that had been attempted in previous works. In the decade following the
Night Watch, Rembrandt's paintings varied greatly in size, subject, and style. The previous tendency to create dramatic effects primarily by strong contrasts of light and shadow gave way to the use of frontal lighting and larger and more saturated areas of color. Simultaneously, figures came to be placed parallel to the picture plane. These changes can be seen as a move toward a classical mode of composition and, considering the more expressive use of brushwork as well, may indicate a familiarity with Venetian art (
Susanna and the Elders, 1637–47). At the same time, there was a marked decrease in painted works in favor of etchings and drawings of landscapes. , New York, has been described as "the calmest and grandest of all his portraits".|left In the 1650s, Rembrandt's style changed again. Colors became richer and brush strokes more pronounced. With these changes, Rembrandt distanced himself from earlier work and current fashion, which increasingly inclined toward fine, detailed works. His use of light becomes more jagged and harsh, and shine becomes almost nonexistent. His singular approach to paint application may have been suggested in part by familiarity with the work of
Titian, and could be seen in the context of the then current discussion of 'finish' and surface quality of paintings. Contemporary accounts sometimes remark disapprovingly of the coarseness of Rembrandt's brushwork, and the artist himself was said to have dissuaded visitors from looking too closely at his paintings. The tactile manipulation of paint may hearken to medieval procedures, when mimetic effects of rendering informed a painting's surface. The result is a richly varied handling of paint, deeply layered and often apparently haphazard, which suggests form and space in both an illusory and highly individual manner. In later years,
biblical subjects were often depicted but emphasis shifted from dramatic group scenes to intimate portrait-like figures (
James the Apostle, 1661). In his last years, Rembrandt painted his most deeply reflective self-portraits (from 1652 to 1669 he painted fifteen), and several moving images of both men and women (
The Jewish Bride, c. 1666)—in love, in life, and before God.
Graphic works '' (c. 1647–1649) Rembrandt produced
etchings for most of his career, from 1626 to 1660, when he was forced to sell his printing-press and practically abandoned etching. Only the troubled year of 1649 produced no dated work. He took easily to etching and, though he learned to use a
burin and partly
engraved many plates, the freedom of etching technique was fundamental to his work. He was very closely involved in the whole process of printmaking, and must have printed at least early examples of his etchings himself. At first he used a style based on drawing but soon moved to one based on painting, using a mass of lines and numerous bitings with the acid to achieve different strengths of line. Towards the end of the 1630s, he reacted against this manner and moved to a simpler style, with fewer bitings. He worked on the so-called
Hundred Guilder Print in stages throughout the 1640s, and it was the "critical work in the middle of his career", from which his final etching style began to emerge. Although the print only survives in two
states, the first very rare, evidence of much reworking can be seen underneath the final print and many drawings survive for elements of it. '' (1643)|left In the mature works of the 1650s, Rembrandt was more ready to improvise on the plate and large prints typically survive in several states, up to eleven, often radically changed. He now used
hatching to create his dark areas, which often take up much of the plate. He also experimented with the effects of printing on different kinds of paper, including
Japanese paper, which he used frequently, and on
vellum. He began to use "
surface tone", leaving a thin film of ink on parts of the plate instead of wiping it completely clean to print each impression. He made more use of
drypoint, exploiting, especially in landscapes, the rich fuzzy burr that this technique gives to the first few impressions. is Rembrandt's only
still life etching His prints have similar subjects to his paintings, although the 27 self-portraits are relatively more common, and portraits of other people less so. The landscapes, mostly small, largely set the course for the graphic treatment of landscape until the end of the 19th century. Of the many hundreds of drawings Rembrandt made, only about two hundred have a landscape motif as their subject, and of the approximately three hundred etchings, about thirty show a landscape. As for his painted landscapes, one does not even get beyond eight works. One third of his etchings are of religious subjects, many treated with a homely simplicity, whilst others are his most monumental prints. A few erotic, or just obscene, compositions have no equivalent in his paintings. Rembrandt owned, until forced to sell it, a magnificent collection of works by other artists. He was influenced by artists including
Caravaggio with his chiaroscuro lighting. Borrowings and influences in his work can be traced to artists as diverse as
Andrea Mantegna (with his
Entombment),
Anthony van Dyck,
Raphael,
Titian,
Peter Paul Rubens,
Hercules Seghers, and
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione. Drawings by Rembrandt and
his pupils/followers have been extensively studied by many artists and scholars through the centuries.
Asian inspiration (detail) Rembrandt was interested in
Mughal miniatures, especially around the 1650s. He drew versions of some 23 Mughal paintings and may have owned an album of them. These miniatures include paintings of
Shah Jahan,
Akbar,
Jahangir and
Dara Shikoh and may have influenced the costumes and other aspects of his works.
The Night Watch or The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq'' (1642), an oil on canvas portrait now
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam|left Rembrandt painted
The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq, known as
The Night Watch, between 1640 and 1642, and it became his most famous work. Rembrandt departed from convention on both narrative painting and portraits, which ordered that such genre pieces should be stately and formal. Instead, he created a complex layering of figures in a dramatic depiction of an action, the firing of a musket, affecting some of the characters but not others. The painting is not set at night, its darkness being caused by ageing; and it is not of a watch or patrol, but a ceremony. ==Expert assessments==