The artist Rembrandt lived in an era. Images of ordinary people and old people
It's always hard to talk about what you truly love. You carefully choose the right words, turns of speech, you don’t know where to start ... Therefore, I’ll start with a little revelation: Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn- my favorite artist, and I got to know him for a very long time.
As a child - in the Hermitage, with the stories of the professor-father. In youth, on MHC lessons at the institute, with old slides in a dark auditorium on long December evenings. In his youth - in amazing Amsterdam, joyfully laughing in the rays of the setting August sun. I have already read hundreds of lectures about Rembrandt, conducted more than a dozen excursions, but still there is a feeling that now you have to plunge into something unknown, huge, incomprehensible.
It's like jumping from a pier into the waters of the sea, where you were for the first time. You don't know if the water is cold there, how many stones are at the bottom. It's anticipation and doubt that makes your hands tremble nervously. There is only one way to defeat this - jump from a running start, feeling your heart pounding and how at one moment the whole world around you is carried away somewhere into the distance, and now you are alone with something completely new ... Well, well! Let's jump, open our eyes and see!
At 27, he had everything an artist could dream of. Fame, fame, money, beloved woman, hundreds of orders. He was considered the best master portrait painting in one of the richest cities of its time, in the pearl northern Europe− Amsterdam.
Yes, there has never been an artist in the world capable of creating this! The portrait had to be perfect, had to brighten up all the shortcomings of a person, but Rembrandt thought otherwise. His portraits were alive. They conveyed character, there was conflict in them. Before you is a fragment of a portrait of the chief tax collector of the province of Holland, Jan Wtenbogart.
Almost the entire state of the republic passed through the hands of this man. And his clothes - an airy lace collar, a long fur coat made of Russian sable fur - clearly testify to his condition. Now just look at those eyes. You see sadness in them ... And the canvas of Rembrandt's great predecessor is immediately remembered -. Does not the apostle look at Christ with the same expression when he calls him to him? This portrait is the story of a very rich but very unhappy man, and the Dutch painter was able to show it in one frozen moment.
All free time Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn spent on the study of facial expressions. He stood for hours at the mirror and made faces, which he then transferred with charcoal to paper. It was important for him to catch the slightest shades of emotions.
The face of a person, according to the artist, was a mirror of the soul, he realized this long before Oscar Wilde with his “Portrait of Dorian Gray”. But portraits are not the only thing Rembrandt excelled at. His large canvases impress us no less. The game of chiaroscuro, which Caravaggio so developed in his painting, acquires a truly gigantic scope from our master.
He was only 28 years old when he created his first absolute masterpiece. This painting is "Descent from the Cross". You simply cannot pass by this painting in the Hermitage. In one moment, the artist managed to depict the whole essence of Christianity, to tell one of the greatest human stories as honest and touching as possible, in a way that no one has done before or after him.
Jerusalem in the background sinks into darkness. The Savior is dead. We see his lifeless body in the center of the picture. This is the moment of the highest despair, no one yet believes in the resurrection. People see only the corpse of a man they loved and worshiped as a god, and the Virgin Mary faints, her skin is deathly pale - she has just lost her only son.
There is one detail on this canvas that is not immediately evident. This is lighting. The source of light is a lantern in the hands of the boy, but the body of Christ and the clothes of the apostle holding him in his arms reflect the light like a mirror. And it is through the light that the true story is told here, revealed philosophical meaning paintings.
The light of a lantern is the light of faith, and what we see in the picture is an initiation into its mystery. One gets the feeling that the very body of the Savior becomes the source of light here. The face of the Mother of God and the shroud, illuminated by the dim light of a candle, stand out from the darkness, in which the body of Christ should be wrapped. On this canvas, Rembrandt first applied the technique that in the last years of his life became the main one in his work.
And now we see how a person who ideally mastered the technique of writing, in the smallest details wrote out everything central figures on the canvas, but, as we moved away from the light, the faces of people became more and more blurred, almost indistinguishable. Everything is very simple - the mystery of what is happening passed them by.
However, on this canvas there is another character that is not noticeable at first sight. Despite the fact that he is in the shadows, Rembrandt depicts him very clearly. In the lower right corner of the canvas, from the darkest place, hiding behind the thistle stalks, the Devil in the form of a dog is looking at you and as if asking you a question:
"Are you involved in what's going on?"
Yes, the Dutch master was always not satisfied with the frame of the picture, he dreamed that his canvases would become part of this world, and the viewer would become a direct participant in what was happening. But it was precisely this desire that overthrew him from the heights of glory into the abyss of centuries of oblivion.
Misfortune and oblivion come as swiftly as fortune and glory. Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn experienced this first hand in 1642. Of course, there were grievances before that: his children died in infancy. Only one son survived, Titus, born in 1641. But a year later, his beloved wife Saskia left this world, with whom he lived long years. And along with this loss, luck also turned away from the artist, turned away at the moment when he created one of his greatest paintings.
One can talk endlessly about Rembrandt's Night Watch. This canvas is so large-scale in its content, so unique in its built composition, that the history of its creation is quite worthy of a separate book, not an article. But, as often happens in life, it was this creation, which subsequently radically changed the entire development of world painting, was rejected by contemporaries.
The customers did not like the way they were depicted, and many of them refused to pay for the artist's work. The most famous painter of the Netherlands has never experienced such humiliation. In one year, Rembrandt lost his beloved wife and failed with his best work. It would seem that this is quite enough, but no, it was only the beginning of the tragedy. Orders became less and less (classicism and the style of ceremonial portraits came into fashion), and soon the artist's property was sold for debts. From a huge mansion in the very center of Amsterdam, he was forced to move to the outskirts of the city, to the Jewish Quarter, where he rented several rooms with his beloved son Titus.
The most interesting thing is that Rembrandt could easily adapt to the latest fashion trends in art and again get big money for their canvases. But the painter was convinced that he must create absolutely a new style. In his portraits now were not rich people, but the most ordinary citizens of the city of Amsterdam. Such, for example, is the “Portrait of an Old Jew”.
Rembrandt was not interested in the detailed depiction of all items of clothing, he strove for more abstraction, strove to show the feelings of his characters in perfect accuracy. For his perseverance, he received only suffering and slaps in the face. This happened with his painting "The Conspiracy of Julius Civilis".
Instead of the classic, pompous, outgoing patriotic image old master presented this to the public.
Before us is a picture of a barbarian feast, rude, unsightly. This canvas was almost 300 years ahead of its time, anticipating Expressionist painting. It is not surprising that the master's masterpiece was rejected, and his name was covered with indelible shame. But it is precisely these last eight years of his life, spent in absolute, impenetrable poverty, that are one of the most fruitful periods in Rembrandt's work.
I think that I will write about the paintings of that period, including his The Return of the Prodigal Son, in a separate article. Now I want to talk about something else. I was always amazed how Rembrandt could work and develop his talent when the blows of fate rained down on him from everywhere. It could not go on like this for a long time, and the artist foresaw it.
The final blow is always applied to the most painful place. He was The only son Titus is a very sickly boy who looks like his dead mother. It was him that Rembrandt depicted then most often: both in the form of an angel in the painting “Matthew and the Angel”, and reading, and in various costumes. Perhaps the painter thought that with the help of his talent he would somehow be able to delay the inevitable... He failed...
In my opinion, "Portrait of Titus in a monastic cassock" is one of the most soulful paintings by Rembrandt. All her father's love, all the talent of a painter, manifested itself in her. In all these rough strokes, in this darkness advancing on the young man from the left, in the plants already surrounding his body, one thing stands out - the pale face of the artist's son with lowered eyes full of humility.
Titus died in 1668, Rembrandt survived him by only a year.
He was dying on the outskirts of Amsterdam, absolutely alone, having gained everything in this life and lost everything. They forgot about his canvases for a long time... But 150 years have passed, and already other artists have heard what the master was trying to tell his contemporaries, choosing his own unique path instead of fame and money.
Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (1606-1669) - Dutch artist, draftsman and engraver, great master of chiaroscuro, the largest representative of the Golden Age Dutch painting.
Biography of Rembrandt van Rijn
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was born in the Dutch city of Leiden on July 15, 1606. Rembrandt's father was a wealthy miller, his mother baked well, was the daughter of a baker. The surname "van Rijn" literally means "from the Rhine", that is, from the Rhine River, where Rembrandt's great-grandfathers had mills. Of the 10 children in the family, Rembrandt was the youngest. Other children followed in the footsteps of their parents, and Rembrandt chose a different path - an artistic one, and was educated at a Latin school.
At the age of 13, Rembrandt began to learn to draw, and also entered the city university. Age then did not bother anyone, the main thing at that time was knowledge at the level. Many scholars suggest that Rembrandt went to university not to study, but to get a deferment from the army.
Rembrandt's first teacher was Jacob van Swanenbürch. In his workshop, the future artist spent about three years, then moved to Amsterdam to study with Peter Lastman.
From 1625 to 1626 Rembrandt returned to his hometown, and made acquaintances with artists, and some of Lastman's students.
Nevertheless, after much deliberation, Rembrandt decided that an artist’s career should be made in the capital of Holland, and again moved to Amsterdam, and married a wealthy townswoman Saskia van Uylenburg, and the painting “The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulip” brought young painter universal recognition.
The work of Rembrandt van Rijn
For the master began the most prosperous decade in his life. He had many students (the school of Rembrandt).
During this period, he painted such masterpieces as "Self-portrait with Saskia" (1635) and "Danae" (1636).
The extremely cheerful art of Rembrandt of the 30s. combines the experience of Renaissance and Baroque masters and an innovative approach to classical subjects.
The period of success came to an abrupt end in 1642: a magnificent work " The night Watch"- a group portrait of members of the Shooting Guild of Amsterdam - was rejected by customers who did not appreciate the artist's innovations and subjected him to sharp criticism.
Rembrandt practically stopped receiving orders, almost all the students left him. Saskia died the same year.
From the 40s. Rembrandt abandoned theatrical effects in his work, and the mystical, contemplative beginning intensified in his painting. Often the artist turned to the image of his second wife - Hendrikje Stoffels.
The painting " holy family"(1645), a series of self-portraits, the best landscapes. But failures continued to haunt Rembrandt: in 1656 he was declared bankrupt, the property was sold at auction, and the family moved to a modest house in the Jewish quarter of Amsterdam.
The painting “The Conspiracy of Julius Civilis” (1661) commissioned by the town hall shared the fate of the “Night Watch”. In 1663 the artist buried his wife and son.
Despite the deterioration of vision, Rembrandt continued to paint. A peculiar result of his work was the canvas "The Return of the Prodigal Son" (1668-1669).
Rembrandt's self-portraits captured almost all stages of his life and stages of his creative path. They are remarkable in themselves, because they allow us to trace the development of the master, and also because many more late artists From Sir Joshua Reynolds to Marc Chagall have tried to imitate Rembrandt's example in the hope of understanding something about themselves.
Rembrandt's painting "Portrait of Jacob de Hein III" is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the most frequently stolen work of art in the world. The painting was stolen and found four times. She was even given the nickname "Takeaway Rembrandt". The portrait is kept in London, in the Dulwich Gallery.
Some of the paintings by the artist Rembrandt, including the famous "Danae", "The Sacrifice of Abraham" and "Haman's Disgrace", are stored in State Hermitage(Saint Petersburg). In 1985, a mentally ill person splashed sulfuric acid on the Danae. The restoration took 20 years. Now "Danae" can be seen only behind a thick layer of protective glass.
The Rembrandt Research Project is a group of scientists analyzing the legacy of the great artist. The project has been running since 1968.
Until that time, it was believed that the artist's brush belongs to 800 paintings. The project denied this figure: after careful research, it turned out that there were only about 350 of them.
The rest were painted by students of Rembrandt, as well as artists influenced by Rembrandt. For example, the famous "Man in a Golden Helmet" from the Berlin Art Gallery, for a long time believed to be the work of a master, turned out to be a painting by another unknown artist.
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Creation Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn(1606-1669) marks the highest flowering Dutch art XVII century and one of the pinnacles of world art in general. Democratic and truly humane, imbued with ardent faith in the triumph of just principles in life, it embodied the most advanced and life-affirming ideas of its time. The artist raised fine art to a new level, enriching it with unprecedented vitality and psychological depth. Rembrandt created a new pictorial language in which leading role finely developed techniques of chiaroscuro and rich, emotionally intense coloring were played. From now on, the spiritual life of a person has become accessible to depiction by means of realistic art.
Rembrandt was an innovator in many genres. As a portrait painter, he was the creator of a peculiar genre of portrait-biography, where the long life of a person and his inner world were revealed in all its complexity and inconsistency. As a historical painter, he turned distant ancient and biblical legends into a story warmed by high humanism about real earthly human feelings and relationships.
The middle of the 1630s was the time when Rembrandt was closest to the pan-European baroque style, lush and noisy, saturated with theatrical pathos and violent movement, contrasts of light and shadow, contradictory neighborhood of naturalistic and decorative moments, sensuality and cruelty.
IN baroque period written "Descent from the Cross"(1634). The picture illustrates the Gospel legend about how Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus and Other disciples and relatives of Christ, having received Pilate's permission, removed the body of Christ at night, wrapped it in a rich shroud and buried it.
The legend is told by Rembrandt with amazing truth of life. The tragic death of the teacher and son plunged the participants in the event into deep grief. The artist peers into faces, trying to penetrate into the souls of people, to read the reaction of everyone to what is happening. He excitedly conveys the fainting of Mary, the mother of Christ, the weeping and groaning of women, the suffering and sorrow of men, the fear and curiosity of adolescents.In this work, Rembrandt started from the well-known Rubens painting of the same name, using individual compositional motifs of the great Fleming and trying to surpass him in expressing the spiritual movements of the characters.
Other important achievement this picture, along with the individualization of feelings actors, was the use of light to achieve wholeness multi-figured composition. The three main moments of the legend - the descent from the cross, the swoon of Mary and the spreading of the shroud - are illuminated by three different sources of light, the intensity of which decreases in accordance with the decrease in the significance of the scene.
The beginning of a new period in life and creative activity the master was marked by two important events, which occurred in 1642: the untimely death of Saskia, a beloved wife who left him a one-year-old son, and the creation of the painting "Night Watch" - a large group portrait of the Amsterdam shooters, himself famous work masters. A family tragedy and the completion of a responsible order placed Rembrandt in front of difficult problems of his personal and creative life. The artist emerges from this crisis mature and wise. His art becomes more serious, more collected and deeper, and most importantly, an interest in the inner life of a person, in what is happening in his soul, becomes more and more clearly visible in him.
In close connection with the evolution of Rembrandt's work in the 1640s, one of the artist's most important works should also be considered - "Danae", although the picture is dated 1636. Rembrandt was inspired by his first love, Saskia, to create the image of Danae, the legendary Greek princess imprisoned by her father in order to avoid the death predicted for him at the hands of her grandson. But ten years later, as shown latest research, the artist, dissatisfied with the initial decision, significantly reworks the image of the main character. He apparently served as the model for the final version of the painting, Gertier Dirks, a young widow who settled in Rembrandt's house after the death of Saskia, first as a nanny to the one-year-old Titus, and then as a full mistress. Thus, the head, right hand and, to a large extent, the body of Danae, waiting in her dungeon for her lover (according to legend, Zeus, who fell in love with Danae, entered her in the form of golden rain), as well as the figure of the old servant woman, turned out to be painted anew, in a bold, broad manner. middle and second half of the 1640s. Almost all other details of the picture remained the same as they were written in 1636, a neat, drawing stroke characteristic of the previous period.
The coloring of the painting has also undergone significant changes. The original version was dominated by cold tones typical of the mid-1630s. Replacing the golden rain of the first version with golden light, as if foreshadowing the appearance of a god in love, Rembrandt now performs the central part of the picture in a warm tone with golden ocher and red cinnabar as dominants. In the second version, that is, in 1646-1647, Danaë also received an in-depth psychological characterization, thanks to which the secret inner world of a woman was revealed, all the complex and contradictory range of her feelings and experiences. "Danae", thus, is a visual specific example the formation of the famous Rembrandtian psychologism.
The work of Rembrandt in the 1650s is marked primarily by achievements in the field of portraiture. Outwardly, the portraits of this period are distinguished, as a rule, by their large size and monumental forms. calm postures. Models usually sit in deep chairs with their hands on their knees and facing straight towards the viewer. The light highlights the face and hands. These are always elderly people, wise by a long life experience - old men and old women with the seal of sad thoughts on their faces and hard work on their hands. Such models gave the artist brilliant opportunities to show not only the external signs of old age, but also spiritual appearance person. In the Hermitage collection, these works are well represented by non-commissioned portraits:
"The Old Man in Red", "Portrait of an Old Woman" and "Portrait of an Old Jew".
We do not know the name of the person who served as a model for the portrait. "The Old Man in Red" Rembrandt painted him twice: in a portrait of 1652 ( National Gallery, London) he is depicted sitting in a chair with armrests, bowing his head to his right hand in deep thought; the Hermitage version interprets the same subject- man alone with your thoughts. This time the artist uses a strictly symmetrical composition, depicting an old man sitting motionless in front. But the more noticeable is the movement of thought, the barely perceptible change in facial expression: it seems either stern, then softer, then tired, then suddenly illumined by the tide inner strength and energy. The same thing happens with the hands: they seem either convulsively compressed, or lying exhausted. The artist achieves this primarily through the brilliant mastery of chiaroscuro, which, depending on its strength and contrast, introduces an elegiac relaxation or dramatic tension into the image. The manner in which paint is applied to the canvas also plays a huge role. The old man's wrinkled face and knotty, overworked hands acquire artistic expressiveness thanks to the viscous mess of colors, in which intertwining bold strokes convey the structure of the form, and thin glazes give it movement and life.
The nameless old man in red with emphasized dignity, fortitude and nobility became an expression of the new ethical position of the artist, who discovered that the value of a person does not depend on the official position of a person in society.
By the mid-1660s, Rembrandt completes his most penetrating work - "The Return of the Prodigal Son" It can be seen as a testament of Rembrandt the man and Rembrandt the artist. It is here that the idea of all-forgiving love for a person, for the humiliated and suffering - an idea that Rembrandt served all his life - finds the highest, most perfect embodiment. And it is in this work that we meet with all the richness and variety of picturesque and techniques, which the artist has developed over many decades of creativity.
Ragged, exhausted and sick, having squandered his fortune and abandoned by friends, the son appears on the threshold of his father's house and here, in the arms of his father, he finds forgiveness and consolation. The immeasurable bright joy of these two - an old man who has lost all hope of meeting his son, and a son seized with shame and remorse, hiding his face on his father's chest - is the main emotional content of the work. Silently, shocked, the involuntary witnesses of this scene froze. The artist limits himself to the utmost in color. The picture is dominated by golden-ocher, cinnamon-red and black-brown tones with an infinite richness of the finest transitions within this stingy gamut. A brush, a spatula, and a brush handle are involved in applying paints to the canvas; but this also seems insufficient to Rembrandt - he applies paint to the canvas directly with his finger (for example, the heel of the left foot of the prodigal son is written like this). Thanks to a variety of techniques, an increased vibration of the colorful surface is achieved - paints either burn, then sparkle, then smolder deafly, or seem to glow from the inside, and not a single detail, not a single, even the most insignificant, corner of the canvas leaves the viewer indifferent.
Only wise life experience a man and a great artist who had come a long way could create this ingenious and simple work.
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669) was a Dutch artist, draftsman and engraver, a great master of chiaroscuro, the largest representative of the golden age of Dutch painting. He managed to embody in his works the whole range of human experiences with such emotional richness, which fine art did not know before him. The works of Rembrandt, extremely diverse in genre, open to the viewer a timeless spiritual world human experiences and feelings.
Rembrandt Harmenszoon ("son of Harmen") van Rijn was born on July 15, 1606 (according to some sources, in 1607) in large family wealthy mill owner Harmen Gerritsson van Rijn in Leiden. The mother's family, even after the Dutch Revolution, remained faithful to the Catholic faith.
In Leiden, Rembrandt attended the Latin school at the university, but showed the greatest interest in painting. At the age of 13 he was sent to study fine arts to the Leiden historical painter Jacob van Swanenbürch, a Catholic by faith. The researchers were unable to find Rembrandt's works related to this period, so the question of the influence of Swanenbürch on the formation creative manner Rembrandt remains open: too little is known today about this Leiden artist.
In 1623, Rembrandt studied in Amsterdam with Pieter Lastman, who had trained in Italy and specialized in historical, mythological and biblical subjects. Returning to Leiden in 1627, Rembrandt, together with his friend Jan Lievens, opened his own workshop and began to recruit students. Within a few years he gained wide popularity.
Lastman's predilection for variegation and detail in performance had a huge impact on young artist. It clearly comes through in his first surviving works - "The Stoning of St. Stephen" (1629), "Scene from ancient history"(1626) and" Baptism of a eunuch "(1626). In comparison with his mature works, they are unusually colorful, the artist strives to carefully write out every detail of the material world, as accurately as possible to convey the exotic setting. biblical history. Almost all the characters appear before the viewer dressed up in bizarre oriental outfits, shining with jewels, which creates an atmosphere of pomp, splendor, festivity (“Allegory of Music”, 1626; “David before Saul”, 1627).
The final works of the period - "Tobit and Anna", "Balaam and the donkey" - reflect not only the rich imagination of the artist, but also his desire to convey the dramatic experiences of his heroes as expressively as possible. Like other masters of the Baroque, he begins to comprehend the meaning of sharply sculpted chiaroscuro in conveying emotion. His teachers in relation to work with light were the Utrecht caravagists, but even in more he focused on the works of Adam Elsheimer, a German who worked in Italy. The most caravaggist paintings by Rembrandt are “The Parable of the Foolish Rich Man” (1627), “Simeon and Anna in the Temple” (1628), “Christ at Emmaus” (1629).
Adjacent to this group is the painting The Artist in His Studio (1628; perhaps this is a self-portrait), in which the artist captured himself in the studio at the moment of contemplating his own creation. The canvas that is being worked on is brought to the forefront of the picture; in comparison with him, the author himself seems a dwarf.
One of the unresolved issues creative biography Rembrandt is his artistic resemblance to Lievens. Working side by side, they took on the same subject more than once, such as Samson and Delilah (1628/1629) or The Resurrection of Lazarus (1631). In part, both were drawn to Rubens, who was then known as the best artist in all of Europe, sometimes Rembrandt borrowed the artistic finds of Livens, sometimes it was exactly the opposite. For this reason, the distinction between the works of Rembrandt and Lievens of 1628-1632 presents certain difficulties for art historians. Among his other famous works is "Valaam's donkey" (1626).
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Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn
The largest representative of the golden age, artist, engraver, great master of chiaroscuro - and all this in one name Rembrandt.
Rembrandt was born on July 15, 1606 in Leiden. This great Dutch artist managed to embody in his works the whole range of human experiences with such emotional richness that fine art had not known before him.
Life
He grew up in a large family of wealthy mill owner Harmen Gerritszon van Rijn. Among other things, the property of Van Rein had two more houses, and he also received a significant dowry from his wife Cornelia Neltier. The mother of the future artist was the daughter of a baker and was versed in cooking. Even after the Dutch Revolution, the mother's family remained faithful to the Catholic religion.
In Leiden, Rembrandt attended the Latin school at the university, but did not like the exact sciences, he showed the greatest interest in painting. Realizing this fact, his parents sent Rembrandt to study fine art at the age of 13 to the Leiden historical painter Jacob van Swanenbürch, who was a Catholic. Rembrandt's works, diverse in genre and subject matter, are imbued with ideas of morality, spiritual beauty and dignity. ordinary person, understanding the incomprehensible complexity of its inner world, the versatility of his intellectual wealth, the depth of his spiritual experiences. Very little information has come down to us about Jacob, so both historians and art critics cannot say for sure about the influence of Swanenbergh on Rembrandt's creative manner.
Then, in 1623, he studied in Amsterdam with the then fashionable painter Pieter Lastman, after which, returning to Leiden, in 1625 he opened his own workshop together with his fellow countryman Jan Lievens.
Pitera Lastman trained in Italy and specialized in historical, mythological and biblical subjects. When Rembrandt opened a workshop and began to recruit students, a short time he became famous. If you look at the first works of the artist, you can immediately understand that Lastman's style - a passion for variegation and pettiness of performance, had a huge impact on the young artist. For example, his work “The Stoning of St. Stephen" (1629), "A Scene from Ancient History" (1626) and "The Baptism of a Eunuch" (1626), are very bright, unusually colorful, Rembrandt strives to carefully write out every detail of the material world. Almost all the characters appear before the viewer dressed up in fancy oriental outfits, shining with jewels, which creates an atmosphere of majority, splendor, festivity.
In 1628, the twenty-two-year-old artist was recognized as a "highly famous" master, a famous portrait painter.
The painting “Judas Returns the Silver Pieces” (1629) evoked an enthusiastic review from the famous connoisseur of painting Constantine Huygens, secretary of the stadtholder Frederick Hendrik of Orange: “... this body trembling with miserable trembling is what I prefer to good taste of all times.”
Thanks to the connections of Constantine, Rembrandt soon acquires rich art admirers: because of the mediation of Haygens, the Prince of Orange commissions several religious works from the artist, such as Christ before Pilate (1636).
The real success for the artist comes in Amsterdam. June 8, 1633 Rembrandt meets the daughter of a wealthy burgher Saskia van Uylenbürch and wins a strong position in society. The artist painted most of the canvases while in the capital of the Netherlands.
Amsterdam - a bustling port and industrial city, which attracted goods and curiosities from all over the world, where people grew rich in trade and banking transactions, where the outcasts of feudal Europe rushed in search of shelter, and where the well-being of wealthy burghers coexisted with depressing poverty, connects strong ties with the artist .
The Amsterdam period of Rembrandt's work began with the overwhelming success that Dr. Tulp's Anatomy Lesson (1632, The Hague, Mauritshuis) brought him, which changed the tradition of the Dutch group portrait. Rembrandt contrasted the usual demonstration of people of the general profession posing for the artist with the dramaturgy of a freely decided scene, the participants of which are members of the guild of surgeons, listening to their colleague, united intellectually and spiritually by active involvement in the process of scientific research.
Rembrandt is inspired by the beauty of his beloved, so he often paints her portraits. Three days after the wedding, van Rijn painted a woman with a wide-brimmed hat in silver pencil. Saskia appeared in the paintings of the Dutchman in a cozy home environment. The image of this plump-cheeked woman appears on many canvases, for example, the mysterious girl in the painting "Night Watch" strongly resembles the artist's beloved.
The thirties in the life of Rembrandt were a period of fame, wealth and family happiness. He received many orders, was surrounded by students, passionately carried away by collecting works of Italian, Flemish and Dutch painters, antique sculpture, minerals, marine plants, ancient weapons, objects of oriental art; in the work on the paintings, the exhibits of the collection often served the artist as props.
Rembrandt's works of this period are extremely varied; they testify to the tireless, sometimes painful search for artistic understanding of the spiritual and social entity man and nature and demonstrate tendencies that relentlessly, step by step, bring the artist into conflict with society.
In portraits "for himself" and self-portraits, the artist freely experiments with the composition and effects of chiaroscuro, changes the tone colors, dresses his models in fantastic or exotic clothes, varies poses, gestures, accessories (“Flora”, 1634, St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum).
In 1635, the famous painting was painted by biblical story"The Sacrifice of Abraham", which was appreciated in secular society.
In 1642, van Rijn received a commission from the Shooting Society for a group portrait to decorate the new building with canvas. The picture was mistakenly called "Night Watch". It was stained with soot, and only in the 17th century, researchers came to the conclusion that the action unfolding on the canvas takes place in the daytime.
Rembrandt thoroughly depicted every detail of the musketeers on the move: as if at a certain moment time stopped when the militia left the dark courtyard so that van Rijn captured them on the canvas.
The customers did not like that the Dutch painter departed from the canons that developed in the 17th century. Then group portraits were ceremonial, and the participants were portrayed full face without any static.
According to scientists, this painting was the reason for the bankruptcy of the artist in 1653, as it scared off potential customers.
The tragic changes in the personal fate of Rembrandt (the death of newborn children, mother, in 1642 - the illness and death of Saskia, who left him a nine-month-old son Titus), the deterioration of his financial situation due to his stubborn unwillingness to sacrifice the freedom of spirit and creativity in favor of the changing tastes of the burghers, exacerbated and laid bare the gradually ripening conflict between the artist and society.
Information about the private life of Rembrandt in the 1640s. little has been preserved in the documents. Of the disciples of this period, only Nicholas Mas from Dordrecht is known. Apparently, the artist continued to live in grand style, as before. The family of the late Saskia expressed concern about how he disposed of her dowry. Titus' nanny, Gertje Dirks, sued him for breaking his promise to marry; in order to settle this incident, the artist had to fork out.
In the late 1640s, Rembrandt became friends with his young servant Hendrikje Stoffels, whose image flashes in many portrait works of this period: Flora (1654), Bathing Woman (1654), Hendrikje at the Window (1655)). The parish council condemned Hendrickje for "sinful cohabitation" when, in 1654, her daughter Cornelia was born with the artist. During these years, Rembrandt moves away from topics that have a grandiose national or universal sound.
The artist worked for a long time on engraved portraits of burgomaster Jan Six (1647) and other influential burghers. All the methods and techniques of engraving known to him were used in the manufacture of the carefully crafted etching "Christ Healing the Sick", better known as the "Leaf of a Hundred Guilders", - it was for such a huge price for the 17th century that it was once sold. Over this etching, which strikes with the subtlety of the play of light and shade, he worked for seven years, from 1643 to 1649.
In 1653, experiencing financial difficulties, the artist transferred almost all his property to his son Titus, after which he declared bankruptcy in 1656. After the sale in 1657-58. house and property (an interesting catalog of the Rembrandt art collection has been preserved), the artist moved to the outskirts of Amsterdam, to the Jewish quarter, where he spent the rest of his life.
The death of Titus in 1668 was one of the last strokes of fate for the artist; he himself was gone a year later.
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn died in October 1669. He was 63 years old. He was old, sick and poor. The notary did not have to spend much time compiling an inventory of the artist's property. The inventory was brief: “three worn jerseys, eight handkerchiefs, ten berets, painting supplies, one Bible.”
Paintings
Return of the prodigal son
The famous painting "The Return of the Prodigal Son", one of the last works of Rembrandt. It was written in the year of his death, and became the pinnacle of his talent.
This is the largest painting by Rembrandt on a religious theme. Rembrandt's painting on the plot of the New Testament parable about prodigal son.
The parable of the prodigal son is found in the Gospel of Luke. She tells about a young man who left his father's house and squandered his inheritance. In idleness, debauchery and drunkenness he spent his days until he found himself on barnyard where he ate from the same trough with pigs. Being in a desperate situation and complete poverty, the young man returns to his father, ready to become his last slave. But instead of contempt, he finds a royal reception, instead of anger - all-forgiving, deep and tender fatherly love.
1669. Rembrandt plays in front of the audience human drama. Paints lie on the canvas in thick strokes. They are dark. The artist is unimportant minor characters, even though there are not many of them. Attention is again riveted to the father and son. The old father, hunched over with grief, is facing the viewer. In this face there is pain, and eyes tired from crying out tears, and the happiness of a long-awaited meeting. The son has his back turned to us. He buried himself like a child in his father's royal attire. We do not know what his face expresses. But the cracked heels, the bare skull of the tramp, the poor attire say enough. Like the hands of the father, squeezing the shoulders of the young man. Through the calmness of these hands, forgiving and supporting, Rembrandt tells the world for the last time a universal parable about wealth, passions and vices, repentance and forgiveness. “... I will get up, go to my father and say to him: Father! I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son; accept me as one of your hired hands. He got up and went to his father. And while he was still far away, his father saw him and had compassion; and, running, fell on his neck and kissed him.
In addition to the father and son, 4 more characters are depicted in the picture. These are dark silhouettes that are hardly distinguishable on dark background but who they are remains a mystery. Some called them "brothers and sisters" of the protagonist. It is characteristic that Rembrandt avoids conflict: the parable speaks of the jealousy of an obedient son, and the harmony of the picture is not broken in any way.
Van Gogh very accurately said about Rembrandt: “You have to die several times in order to draw like that ... Rembrandt penetrates the mystery so deeply that he speaks about objects for which there are no words in any language. That's why Rembrandt is called: the magician. And this is not a simple craft.”
The night Watch
The name by which Rembrandt's group portrait "Speech of the Rifle Company of Captain Frans Banning Cock and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenbürg", written in 1642, is traditionally known.
The canvas of the Dutch master is fraught with many "surprises". Let's start with the fact that the name of the picture familiar to us does not correspond to reality: the patrol depicted on it is actually not at all night, but the most that neither is daytime. It’s just that Rembrandt’s work was varnished several times, because of which it darkened greatly. In addition, almost 100 years (from early XVIII until the beginning of the 19th century) the canvas adorned one of the halls of the Amsterdam town hall, where it hung right in front of the fireplace, covered with soot year after year. It is not surprising that by the beginning of the 19th century, the name “Night Watch” had firmly established itself behind the painting: by this time, the history of its creation was thoroughly forgotten, and everyone was sure that the master depicted exactly dark time days. Only in 1947, during the restoration at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, where the painting is to this day, it turned out that its coloring was incomparably lighter than it was commonly believed. Moreover, the short shadows cast by the characters indicate that the action takes place between noon and two o'clock in the afternoon. However, the restorers did not remove all layers of dark lacquer, fearing to damage the paint, so even now the Night Watch is rather twilight.
The real name of the canvas is "Speech by the rifle company of Captain Frans Banning Cock and Lieutenant Wilhem van Reitenburg." This is a group portrait of musketeers-militias of one of the districts of Amsterdam. From 1618 to 1648, the Thirty Years' War was going on in Europe, and the inhabitants of the Dutch cities took up arms in order to defend their homes. Rembrandt's creation, along with portraits of other rifle companies, was supposed to decorate the main hall in Kloveniersdolen, the headquarters of the city's riflemen. But the customers were disappointed: Rembrandt did not turn out a monumental formal portrait, A conversation piece, in which they struggled to find their own faces, often half-hidden by other characters. Still would! After all, the artist, in addition to 18 customers (each of whom laid out about 100 golden guilders for his portrait - a very impressive amount at that time), squeezed another 16 people onto the canvas! Who they are is unknown.
Museum – Amsterdam History Museum?
three crosses
One of Rembrandt's most famous etchings, it has five states. Signed and dated only the third, therefore, the rest Rembrandt considered intermediate. The fifth condition is very rare, only five specimens are known.
The etching depicts the dramatic moment of the death of Christ on the Calvary cross, described in the gospels. In this etching, Rembrandt used the technique of a cutter and a “dry needle” on an unprecedented scale, which increased the contrast of the image.
On December 2, 2008, this etching (state IV) was sold at Christie's for £421,250.
Descent from the Cross
In 1814, Alexander I purchased the Malmaison Gallery from Empress Josephine. Some of the paintings came from the famous Kassel Gallery, including Descent from the Cross. Previously, these canvases were the property of Mrs. de Ruwer in Delft and, together with other paintings from her collection, were bought by the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel Ludwig VII. In 1806, his gallery was taken over by Napoleon and presented to Josephine.
In 1815, the successor of the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel Ludwig VII, a former ally of Alexander I, presented a demand to the emperor for the return of the paintings seized by Napoleon. This demand was resolutely rejected by Alexander I, who paid money for the paintings and in every possible way showed attention to Josephine and her daughter Hortense. In 1829 Hortense, who at that time bore the title of Duchess of Saint-Leu, bought thirty paintings from the Malmaison Gallery.
The theme "Descent from the Cross" had a great iconographic tradition in European art. Her highest achievement was considered an altar painting by Rubens in the Antwerp Cathedral, widely known from the engraving by Worstermann.
The creative thought of Rembrandt wanders somewhere near this tradition, using it and at the same time constantly choosing other paths. Unusual for prior development European art, they are highly characteristic of Rembrandt's personal creative manner, and it is not without reason that "Descent from the Cross" looks so strongly reminiscent of "Unbelief of the Apostle Thomas".
Rubens depicted the sublime grief of a group of majestic and beautiful people about the majestic and great hero; Rembrandt restless mass night scene. Numerous figures either retreat into the darkness, or fall into a ray of light, and it seems that the crowd is moving, living, grieving for the crucified and pitying his mother. There is nothing ideal in the appearance of people, many of them are rude, ugly. Their feelings are very strong, but these are feelings ordinary people, not enlightened by that sublime catharsis that is in the painting by Rubens.
The dead Christ is a man like them; it is because of the strength of their grief that his suffering and death take on special significance. The key to the content of the picture is, perhaps, not so much Christ, but the person supporting him and pressing his cheek against him.
From an artistic point of view, a fractional, restless composition is inferior and famous painting Rubens, and some works by Rembrandt himself, executed in the same years. For example, the “Unbelief of the Apostle Thomas”, less significant in its content, seems outwardly more harmonious and holistic. However, in The Descent from the Cross, Rembrandt's inherent understanding of the biblical gospel theme comes out more clearly.
The work of the young Rembrandt differs from its prototype in the most basic features. First of all, it was not created either formally or in essence as a prayer altar image. Its cabinet size is addressed not to the perception of the crowd, but to the individual experience. This appeal to the feelings and consciousness of one person, the establishment of close spiritual contact with the viewer forced the artist to create a completely new system artistic means and tricks. Rembrandt saw the scene of the gospel legend as a tragic real event, essentially depriving it of mystical and heroic pathos.
Striving for the utmost sincerity and truthfulness of the image, Rembrandt showed near the cross a close crowd of people, shocked by grief, seeking family unity with each other in the face of terrible death. The brown-olive tonal coloring united the whole composition, and the light flux highlighted its main semantic center dramatically sharply. The greatest depth of suffering is embodied in the image of the Mother of God who fell unconscious with her thin, emaciated face of a toiler. The second group of mourners is located at the left end of the spatial diagonal - the women reverently lay the shroud, fulfilling their direct duty in relation to the deceased. The drooping body of Christ supported by the old man - the embodiment of tortured human flesh - evokes, first of all, a feeling of deep compassion.
Jewish bride
One of Rembrandt's last and most enigmatic paintings. The name was given to her in 1825 by the Amsterdam collector Van der Hop. He mistakenly believed that it depicted a father giving his Jewish daughter a necklace for her wedding. Perhaps this is a custom portrait, but the clothes of the characters are clearly similar to the old, biblical ones, therefore Artaxerxes and Esther, Jacob and Rachel, Abram and Sarah, Boaz and Ruth were suggested as the name.
Saskia as Flora
Painting by Rembrandt, painted in 1634, which probably depicts the artist's wife Saskia van Uylenbuch in the form of the ancient Italian goddess of flowers, flowering, spring and field fruits Flora.
In 1633, Saskia van Uylenbürch became the bride of Rembrandt van Rijn. A charming portrait of young Saskia dressed as Flora is a mute but eloquent witness to this “season of spring and love” of the brilliant painter.
The thoughtful, but undoubtedly happy face of the girl is quite consistent with the feelings of the bride. She is no longer a frisky child, carelessly looking at God's world. She has a serious task ahead of her: she has chosen new way and many, many things she has to change her mind and re-feel before she enters into adult life. The headdress and wand entwined with flowers certainly point to Flora, the ancient Roman goddess of spring. The outfit of the goddess is written with amazing skill, but the true greatness of Rembrandt's talent is manifested in the expression of tenderness that the artist gave to her face.
Beloved wife brought into a lonely dwelling humble artist the light of happiness and heartfelt contentment. Rembrandt liked to dress Saskia in velvet, silk and brocade, according to the custom of that time, he showered them with diamonds and pearls, watching with love how her lovely, young face wins from a brilliant outfit.
Museum - State Hermitage
Style
Deeply humanistic in its essence and perfect in its unique artistic form, Rembrandt's work has become one of the pinnacles of the development of human civilization. Diverse in genre and subject matter, Rembrandt's works are imbued with ideas of morality, spiritual beauty and dignity of an ordinary person, understanding of the incomprehensible complexity of his inner world, the versatility of his intellectual wealth, and the depth of his emotional experiences. Containing many unsolved mysteries, paintings, drawings and etchings of this wonderful artist captivate with the insightful psychological characteristics of the characters, the philosophical acceptance of reality, the convincing justification of unexpected artistic solutions. His interpretation of stories from the Bible, ancient myths, ancient legends and the past home country as really meaningful events in the history of man and society, deeply felt life collisions of specific people, opened the way for a free and ambiguous interpretation traditional images and topics.
Love Rembrandt
The famous muse of Rembrandt Saskia was the youngest daughter of the burgomaster of the city of Leeuwarden. This white-skinned red-haired beauty grew up in a large and very wealthy family. When the girl was 12 years old, the mother of the family died. But the girl still did not know anything to refuse, and when the time came, she became a very enviable bride.
A landmark meeting between the artist and the young lady took place in the house of the girl's cousin, the artist Hendrick van Uylenburg, who was also an antiques dealer. Rembrandt is literally smitten with a girl: luminous delicate skin, golden hair ... Add to this the ability to conduct a casual conversation. Jokingly, she invited a famous painter to paint her portrait. And that's all it needs: Saskia is an ideal model for Rembrandt's subjects in dark and muted tones.
Rembrandt begins to paint a portrait. He meets with Saskia not only at the sessions. Changing his principle, he tries to go on pleasure walks and parties. When the work on the portrait was completed and frequent meetings ceased, Rembrandt understands: this is the one he wants to marry. In 1633, Saskia van Uylenburg became the artist's bride, and on July 22, 1634, the long-awaited wedding took place.
Marriage with Saskia opens the way for the artist to high society. The burgomaster's father left the beloved a colossal inheritance: 40,000 florins. Even on a small part of this amount it was possible to live comfortably for many, many years.
Happy and loving spouses began to equip common Home. Soon it began to resemble a museum. The walls were decorated with engravings by Michelangelo and paintings by Raphael. Saskia agreed to everything, she loved her husband very much. And he, in turn, showered her with jewels, paid for the most exquisite toilets. And, of course, he tried to capture his favorite image. Rembrandt, one might say, became a chronicler of his family life. In the early days honeymoon spouses, the famous “Self-portrait with Saskia on her knees” was painted.
In 1635, the first son was born in the family, but he did not live long, and this was a terrible blow for the young mother.
For a long time she did not want to part with the body of her son, drove everyone away from her, not letting go of the dead child. The unfortunate mother walked with him around the house, lulling him to sleep and calling him all the tender names that she and her husband used to call Rembrantus in the first happy days.
Rembrandt was aware that, with the exception of hours spent at the easel, he could only live near Saskia. Only with her does he feel like a man: love is the source of life, and he loves only Saskia, and no one else.
After the death of Rembrantus, Saskia lost two more children at birth. Only the fourth child, Titus, who was born in 1641, was able to survive the difficult years of infancy. The boy was named after the late Tizia, Saskia's sister.
However, constant childbirth had a detrimental effect on Saskia's health. The appearance of purely landscape images by the artist in the late 1630s is sometimes explained by the fact that at that time, due to the illness of his wife, Rembrandt spent a lot of time with her outside the city. In the 1640s, the artist writes relatively few portraits.
Saskia van Uylenburg died in 1642. She was only thirty years old. In the coffin, she looked like a living ...
At this time, Rembrandt was working on famous painting"The night Watch".
Rembrandt House Museum
Art Museum on the Jodenbreestraat in the Jewish Quarter of Amsterdam. The museum opened in 1911 in a house that Rembrandt bought at the height of his fame in 1639 and lived in until his bankruptcy in 1656.
For almost 20 years of his life (from 1639 to 1658), Rembrandt managed to create many great work, become famous, collect a unique collection of paintings and rarities from around the world, acquire students, squander the fortune of the first wife, lose major customers, make huge debts and put the house under the hammer.
Rembrandt also had to sell off most of his lavish collection of paintings and antiques, including works by great European artists, Roman busts of emperors, and even Japanese battle armor, and move into a more modest home. Having survived both wives and even his own son, Rembrandt died in poverty and loneliness.
Two and a half centuries later, in 1911, by order of Queen Wilhelmina, the house was turned into a museum, which, unlike, for example, the Van Gogh Museum, is, first of all, not Art Gallery, and the restored apartments of the great artist: a huge kitchen on the first floor, a reception room, a master bedroom and a guest bedroom on the second, the largest room in the mansion - a studio - on the third, and in the attic - the workshops of his students.
It was possible to restore the interior with the help of an inventory of property compiled by a notary when selling all the artist's property at auction, and drawings by the artist himself, on which he displayed his home.
Here you can see his personal belongings, furniture of the 17th century and others. interesting exhibits like the most beautiful etching machine or overseas rarities.
The museum exhibits almost all of the engravings of the great Rembrandt - 250 out of 280, magnificent self-portraits of the artist, drawings depicting his parents, wife and son Titus, wonderful views of Amsterdam and its environs.
Even the museum toilet requires special attention: there you can see drawings by Rembrandt on the corresponding theme: a woman squatting in the bushes, and a man standing in a pose characteristic of this institution.
