Biography of Rembrandt van Rijn

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), one of the most eminent painters and engravers of the Dutch school, was the son of a miller (Herman Gerritaz van Rijn).

He was born in 1606, at a small village on the banks of the Rhine, between Leyderdorp and Leyden, whence he was called Rembrandt van Rijn, though his family name was Gerritaz.

He attended for a short time the Latin School at Leyden; and after studying art three years under Jacob van Swanenburg, and for a very limited period under Pieter Lastman at Amsterdam and Jacob Pinas at Haarlem, he returned home and devote himself to the study of nature.

It is said that his father, being in easy circumstances, intended him for one of the learned professions, but was induced by Rembrandt’s passion for the art to allow him to follow his inclination.

About 1630, Rembrandt move to Amsterdam. He not only resided with the art dealer Hedrick van Uylenbergh but also invested in the business both financially and through his own labor, teaching pupils and executing Uylenbergh’s steady stream of portrait commissions.

He copied nature with all its defects, as he saw it in his own country; and even this he sometimes debased, but seldom rose above it. There is a vein of good sense running through his works. His print of Christ healing sick, esteemed the most capital of his etchings, sold for thirty guineas: his portrait of the Burgomaster Six, has sold for more.

His famous paintings including: Night Watch (1642), the Staalmeesters (1662), and Jewish Bride (1665). Rembrandt’s portraits are also of great importance and go far beyond the conventions of the times. He was dogged by bad luck in his later life when commissions flagged and he was force to sell his possessions.
Biography of Rembrandt van Rijn