CA3
- Rembrandt painting exhibition
Together with my mother I went to a Rembrandt exhibition in the Magna Plaza in Amsterdam. In this
CA I am going to explain what I knew, saw, experienced, and learned.
What did I already know about Rembrandt?
I know Rembrandt van Rijn was a painter during the 17th century. He is best known for his painting:
“The Night Watch”. I also knew he had a child called Titus. But other than that is unfamiliar to me.
Who was Rembrandt really?
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was a Dutch painter during the Golden Ages of the Netherlands.
He is considered to be one of the best painters and most important figures in the Dutch history. He
was born on the 15th of July in 1606 in Leiden. He studied Latin in the University of Leiden, but his
heart was with painting. He was discovered in 1629 by Christiaan Huygens. At the end of 1631
Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam, then rapidly expanding, and began to practice as a professional
portraitist for the first time, with great success. He was very popular. He first stayed with an art
dealer, Hendrick van Uylenburgh, and in 1634, married Hendrick's cousin, Saskia van Uylenburgh.
Together they got four children: Rumbartus (died two months after his birth in 1635), Cornelia (died
at just three weeks of age in 1638), Cornelia (died after living barely over a month in 1640), and Titus
(born in 1641, survived into adulthood). Saskia died in 1642 soon after Titus's birth. Rembrandt died
on the 4th of October in 1669 in Amsterdam.
What is Rembrandt known for?
Rembrandt produced over 600 paintings, 400 etchings and 2000 drawings. Some of his major works
that are best known today:
The Return of the Prodigal Son (1669)
The Anatomy Lecture of Doctor Nicolaes Tulp (1632)
The Nightwhatch (1642)
Danae (1647)
The Jewish Bride (1666)
What did I see?
All the paintings were not actually there in the exhibition, unfortunately. The ‘paintings’ were really
photographs of the paintings. The size and compositions of the paintings were identical to the real
ones. In total there were about 200 paintings of Rembrandt and his students. Some paintings even
had very old sketches and drawings hanging on the wall next to it. I thought it was quite interesting
to see, because while you walked further into the exhibition, the paintings changed. It started with
portraits of people. These looked very much the same: a portrait of the head and shoulders with a
dark background. They changed into group paintings, such as the great Nighwatch. Significant was,
that in his later life (so the last 50 paintings before he died) he painted allot of self -portraits.
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