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Rembrandt

1606–1669 · Dutch Golden Age painting

Rembrandt (1606-1669) was the leading painter of Dutch Golden Age painting, admired for his handling of light and shadow and for portraits that seem to record inner life as well as appearance. This gallery moves from his early history scenes to the large group portraits and late works in which his brushwork grew broad and free.

Life and work

Rembrandt was born in Leiden in 1606, and his early works show a young painter testing ambitious subjects on a modest scale. The lapidation of Saint Stephen (1625) is a crowded, dramatic history scene. Artist in his studio (1628) shows a small figure dwarfed by a huge easel, a quiet reflection on the act of painting. He later settled in Amsterdam, where he became a sought-after portraitist. The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp (1632) made his name, and portraits such as that of Haesje Jacobsdr. van Cleyburg (1634) followed. The same years produced theatrical history and mythological pictures, including The Abduction of Europa (1632), The Storm on the Sea of Galilee (1633) and Danaë (1636-1637). His wife, Saskia van Uylenburgh, appears in several works from this period. The Night Watch (1642) was his most ambitious commission. Later paintings, such as A Woman Bathing in a Stream (1654-1655) and Hendrickje Stoffels (1655), show looser, more textured paint. Titus as a Monk (1660) depicts his son. Late works such as Syndics of the Drapers' Guild (1662) and The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis (1661-1662) show him still taking on major public pictures. He died in Amsterdam in 1669.

The Night Watch (1642), Rijksmuseum

This is a group portrait of an Amsterdam civic militia company, but Rembrandt avoided the usual neat rows of sitters. The figures move, load weapons and turn toward each other, as if the company is setting off. Watch how light picks out the captain in black and the lieutenant in pale yellow, and a small girl glowing in gold among the men. The familiar title is a later nickname, prompted by darkened varnish. Stand back first to take in the whole scene, then look closely at the costume details.

The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp (1632), Mauritshuis

Dr. Tulp lifts the muscles of a dissected forearm with forceps while his other hand demonstrates how they move the fingers. The surgeons around him lean in at different angles. Some study the arm, some look at the open book, and some look out toward the viewer. That variety turns a commissioned group portrait into a moment of shared attention. Notice how the pale body is the brightest area of the canvas and draws your eye diagonally to Tulp. The work established the young Rembrandt's reputation in Amsterdam.

Where to see the paintings

National Gallery of Art
The Mill
Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Artist in his studio
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
Rembrandt and Saskia in the parable of the Prodigal Son
Rijksmuseum
Titus as a Monk
The Night Watch
Syndics of the Drapers' Guild
The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis
The Jewish Bride
J. Paul Getty Museum
The Abduction of Europa
National Gallery
A Woman Bathing in a Stream (Hendrickje Stoffels?)
Belshazzar's Feast
Mauritshuis
The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp
The Frick Collection
The Polish Rider
Alte Pinakothek
The Descent from the Cross
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Aristotle with a Bust of Homer
Gemäldegalerie Berlin
Moses Smashing the Tablets of the Law
Louvre Museum
Bathsheba at Her Bath

Works may be off view or on loan. See each painting’s page for museum details.

Sources