Rembrandt van Rijn’s greatest love was Saskia Uylenburgh, whom he married in 1634. But he had more loves in his life. Some of these left him deeply in debt and eventually led to his bankruptcy.
Rembrandt’s painting is praised worldwide, with The Night Watch as his most famous work. But the artist practiced another branch of sport: etching. “Rembrandt was the greatest etcher of the seventeenth century and was known throughout Europe for his prints,” says Jonathan Bikker to NU.nl. He is curator of seventeenth-century Dutch painting at the Rijksmuseum.
The exhibition is from July 1 Rembrandt and love on display in the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam. The exhibition contains fifty etchings in which love plays a central role.
The artist made sketches, which he then made prints of with an etching plate. “Etching doesn’t take that much time and you can make a large edition of it. That’s different from a painting that took months or even years to work,” explains Bikker. In all likelihood, Rembrandt worked on this for 2.5 years The Night Watch.
Rembrandt liked to walk in Amsterdam
In order to afford a life of luxury and expensive hobbies, Rembrandt chose etching. It was a relatively easy way to generate income. He could also address a different target group with it. In addition, Rembrandt made many paintings, especially portraits, on commission. “By making etchings, the artist was able to make work that he himself liked,” says Epco Runia, head of collection and education at Museum Rembrandthuis.
The etchings show what Rembrandt loved. For example, he liked to go for a walk in Amsterdam and occasionally made a stopover for a sketch. There were many dogs in those sketches, because the artist was also fond of them. “Those dogs don’t really stand out – they sit or walk near people – but often provide dynamics and movement in a work of art,” says Runia. You can see this, for example, at The Night Watch. A barking dog can be seen at the bottom right.
His greatest love was Saskia. They married in 1634 and were together until her death in 1642. It goes without saying that she is part of an exhibition about Rembrandt and love. Saskia can be seen in various etchings, including a self-portrait with her husband.
A self-portrait of Rembrandt van Rijn and Saskia Uylenburgh.Photo: Rembrandt House
‘Rembrandt would use social media at this time’
Rembrandt made many self-portraits during his career. Thanks to those portraits, we know well what he looked like from the age of eighteen until his death. “The self-portraits could be an expression of self-love. But we think it was mostly marketing,” says Runia. “Rembrandt considered himself a great artist and did everything he could to increase his fame. You could compare it to this time: if Rembrandt were alive now, he would certainly use social media as a stage.”
The artist lived at a time when it was customary for rich people to collect rare objects. So is Rembrandt. The Rembrandt House, where the artist lived from 1639 to 1658, housed the art room full of more than a hundred rarities. “Rembrandt collected everything: stuffed birds of paradise, special shells from the Pacific Ocean, feathers from South America, bronze statuettes from Italy, a Japanese helmet and marble busts of Roman emperors and Greek philosophers,” says Runia.
Rembrandt’s studio in the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam. Photo: Rembrandt House
Rembrandt had to sell possessions because of debts
Those special objects are no longer in the museum. The artist has had to sell his collection, probably with a heavy heart, because of debts. But thanks to an old inventory, the museum has been able to make a reconstruction of the collection.
“Rembrandt was very successful at one time and earned good money with his work. But Saskia’s death put him in an artistic crisis,” says Runia. Moreover, according to Bikker, the artist was somewhat done with commissioned works of art by that time.
“Rembrandt suffered from collecting rage and was addicted to shopping”, Runia knows. That started to bother him, so that he eventually even had to sell his beloved home on the Jodenbreestraat in Amsterdam. His love for rare objects was the main cause of his eventual bankruptcy.
Rembrandt and love can be seen from 1 July to 15 October in the Rembrandt House Museum.
2023-07-01 16:38:40
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