Most important works
Altogether Rembrandt made three hundred or so paintings, two hundred and ninety etchings and two thousand drawings. His remarkable mastery of the interplay of light and shade, with strong contrasts (chiaroscuro), produced dynamic scenes full of drama. He inspired his pupils with this style and influenced the development of western art history. The Rembrandt House is the place where hundreds of other paintings were made under the master’s personal supervision—paintings which still have experts debating the extent of the artist’s involvement.
The Conspiracy of the Batavians under Julius Civilis
In 1648, the year that the Treaty of Münster put an end to the Eighty Years’ war, work started in Amsterdam on the building of a new Town Hall, now the Palace in Dam Square. A considerable sum of money was earmarked for it, in order to make it a really impressive edifice. The town hall was to be an expression of the power of the City of Amsterdam… Read more
The Jewish Bride
One of Rembrandt’s most famous works is the painting known as The Jewish Bride. The painting acquired this name at the beginning of the nineteenth century, but the subject of the picture remains a mystery to this day. Is it an Old Testament couple? Or is it a double portrait of two of Rembrandt’s contemporaries? It could also be a combination of both possibilities… Read more
Portrait Jan Six
Of the many portraits that Rembrandt painted, etched and drew, those of Jan Six (1618-1700) are among the best known. The portrait of Six painted in 1654 still belongs to the Six family. In 1647 Rembrandt made the portrait etching shown here. It is one of the few etchings for which Rembrandt made several preliminary drawings. Six leans casually by… Read more
Titus
The boy, who sits staring ahead, is lost in thought. His thumb presses against his chin. There are some papers on the desk, and he holds a pen in his right hand and a pen case in his left. That this is a portrait of Rembrandt’s son, Titus, is not in doubt. An important clue to this is that there are several other paintings by Rembrandt from the same period that unmistakably… Read more
The Anatomy lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp
Rembrandt painted this group portrait of seven surgeons and the physician Nicolaes Tulp in 1632. The painting is one of a series of group portraits that were made for the board room of the Guild of Surgeons, the earliest of which dates from 1603. An anatomy piece of this kind has a central motif, an anatomy lesson, and a protagonist, the praelector or reader… Read more
The Syndics
Around 1661 Rembrandt was commissioned to paint a group portrait of the syndics or inspectors of the Clothmakers’ Guild. The five-man board met in a building known as the Staalhof. Rembrandt completed the group portrait in 1662. The painting was hung in the Staalhof in a room with several other group portraits, all of them, however, dating from the sixteenth century… Read more
The Night Watch
The seventeenth century saw an unparalleled output of art in the Republic of the United Provinces. The number of paintings and prints produced during this period is staggering, and very many of them are of outstanding quality. Perhaps the most famous painting is the work by Rembrandt known as The Night Watch. It is a group portrait of a militia company… Read more
