Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Art Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, the son of a miller, was born in Leiden on July 15, 1606. Despite the fact that he came from a family of relatively modest means, his parents took great care with his education. Rembrandt began his studies at the Latin School, and at the age of 14 he was enrolled at the University of Leiden. The program did not interest him, and he soon left to study art, first with a local master, Jacob van Swanenburch, and then, with Pieter Lastman, in Amsterdam. After six months Rembrandt mastered everything he had been taught, he returned to Leiden, where he was soon so highly regarded that although only 22 years old, he took his first pupils. Though he is best known for his paintings he also created etchings and illustrations. Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam in 1631 and married Saskia van Uylenburgh; the cousin of a successful art dealer in 1634, bringing him in contact with wealthy patrons who eagerly commissioned portraits. In addition, Rembrandt's mythological and religious works were much in demand, and he painted numerous dramatic masterpieces. Because of his renown as a teacher, his studio was filled with pupils, some of whom were already trained artists. In contrast to his successful public career, however, Rembrandt's family life was marked by misfortune. Between 1635 and 1641 Saskia gave birth to four children, but only the last, Titus, survived; her own death came in 1642, at the age of 30. Hendrickje Stoffels, engaged as his housekeeper about 1649, eventually became his common-law wife and was the model for many of his pictures. Despite Rembrandt's financial success as an artist, teacher, and art dealer, his expensive lifestyle forced him to declare bankruptcy in 1656. An inventory of his collection of art and antiquities, taken before an auction to pay his debts, showed the variety of Rembrandt's interests: ancient sculpture, Flemish and Italian Renaissance paintings, Far Eastern art, contemporary Dutch works, weapons, and armor. Unfortunately, the results of the auction, including the sale of his house, were disappointing. These problems in no way affected Rembrandt's work; if anything, his artistry increased. His personal life, however, continued to be marred by sorrow. His beloved Hendrickje died in 1663, and his son, Titus, in 1668, only 27 years of age. Eleven months later, on October 4, 1669, Rembrandt died in Amsterdam. Rembrandt’s development can be divided into four basic periods: the Leiden Period, the first Amsterdam Period, the Middle Period, and the Mature Period. Rembrandt was influenced and inspired by many different artists, from great Italian masters of the past, to his second teacher Pieter Lastman. (Rosenberg, Jakob., Seymour Slive., E. H. Ter Kuile. " Rembrandt Van Rijn." Dutch Art and Architecture 1600 to 1800. Baltimore, MA: Penguin Books, 1966. 48-81) Although Rembrandt never traveled to Italy, one of the largest influences on Rembrandt was Italian art. One Italian master that had a definite impact on Rembrandt was Tintoretto, this influence being most clearly seen in Rembrandt’s use of chiaroscuro in his works. In Italy, the ancestry of Rembrandt’s method of treating light and shade can, be traced back as far as Tintoretto. Tintoretto’s greatest gift to art, above all others, was his method of using light and dark masses, one standing out against the other, in alternating succession of silhouettes. Take for instance Tintorretto’s the Adoration of the Shepherds, a scene of indescribable magic and haunting effect of chiaroscuro, the light penetrating the stable through the roof, and the design being built on contrasting silhouettes. Added to the treatment of light and shade, the homely realism of the figures, and the setting, make us feel that we are here getting very near to Rembrandt. If we look at the work of Rembrandt, there is no lack of examples in which the distance from Tintoretto is very small. Such works as Blinding of Samson, could not have come about but for Tintoretto. So extraordinarily close in its approach to him, in the rhythm of the line, in the composition, and above all in the use of light and shade with a view to getting as strikingly contrasted silhouettes as possible. As well as Rembrandt’s Supper at Emmaus, that bears Rembrandt’s adoption of Tintoretto’s methods of chiaroscuro. (Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn. Rembrandt: selected paintings. London: The Phaidon Press, 1952.) Rembrandt’s work has also been said to have been inspired by the art of Caravaggio. There is no doubt that Caravaggio’s forceful naturalism is derived from Tintoretto and the same is true of his treatment of light and shade. There is one important difference, Caravaggio favored what is called a "cellar-light" with its most unmitigated and violent oppositions of tone, glaring patches of light next to large masses of unbroken shadow, whereas Tintoretto and after him Rembrandt, largely depend on the effect of reflected light playing across shadows. It is clear to see that while Rembrandt may have drawn some influence from Caravaggio, his work is closer to that of Tintoretto. (Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn. Rembrandt: selected paintings.) Another artist who, although German by birth, was a member of the Roman school of art that was of vital importance to the development of European art, and who must be considered in discussion of Rembrandt’s treatment of chiaroscuro, is Adam Elsheimer. This painter painted only landscapes, of very small size and distinguished by an extraordinary softness and tenderness of illumination and richness of atmosphere; and it is quite clear that the art of Elsheimer made a most powerful impression on Rembrandt, directly as well as indirectly through Rembrandt’s teacher, Pieter Lastman. Take Elsheimer’s Flight into Egypt, revealing an interest in the study of complicated effects of light. The darkness of night is broken by the emanation of light from several different sources. The torch carried by St. Joseph, the fire around which the shepherds have gathered and the moon, which is just rising of the starlit sky over the dark masses of the foliage and is reflected in the calm waters of the lake. Then take into account the painting of the same image by Rembrandt. In the foreground we see the Holy Family resting by the fire, lighted by the some shepherds and reflected in a little pond. The moon is just breaking through the clouds, and the masses of foliage and the castle with lights in its windows tell as a dark silhouette against the sky. The picture is so similar in composition and effect to the one by Elsheimer that it would be easy to think that they were by the same artist, however there is a far greater freedom of handling and richness of tone in Rembrandt’s work. (Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn. Rembrandt: selected paintings.) From the very beginning Rembrandt used chiaroscuro in his own individual manner. In the works by Caravaggio and his early followers the light and shade are intensely contrasted, and there is little penumbra transition. In their pictures, sharp borders between the illuminated and the shadowed parts create the effect of clear-cut contours, and because of this, figures as well as separate objects stand out with a pronounced sculptural character against a dark and rather spaceless background. In the Money Changer, Rembrandt takes up the problem of the light and shadow produced by the flame of the taper, covered by the old man’s hand. Here there is no doubt he was inspired by Honthorst’s example, carefully studied the colored reflections on the face of his model and the other objects in the room. However there is a difference between this nocturnal scene by Rembrandt and that of Hosthorst. Rembrandt surpassed his model in unifying light and atmosphere throughout the interior. In his St. Paul in Contemplation, the light and shadow are even more closely interwoven. A permanent fluctuation from the one to the other takes place, producing a tenebrous atmosphere, full of mysterious effect. The fluctuating light the figure is expressly connected with the surrounding space achieves more, and the space itself is drawn into the representation. Rembrandt used chiaroscuro to give the atmosphere both a visual and spiritual meaning. (Rosenberg, Jakob., Seymour Slive., E. H. Ter Kuile. Dutch Art and Architecture 1600 to 1800.) Rembrandt was also greatly influenced by his teacher Pieter Lastman. The Feast of Esther, bursting with energy, and over-rich in detail and somewhat immature in its lack of control over forms in space, may be an over-ambitious attempt to combine lighting effects and the large scale of the Utrecht Caravaggesque painters with the style of Lastman. The synthesis was not a complete success. The Stoning of St. Stephen, shows how impressed he was by Lastman’s forcefulness based on lively gestures and a vivid chiaroscuro. Rembrandt used the same kind of fanciful Italianate setting that his employed, and depended on similar strong contrasts of light and shade to give his work a dramatic character. Rembrandt also follows Lastman in his coloring, in giving a hard brilliance to the illuminated figures. Rembrandt’s immaturity is evident in the overcrowding and confused spatial relationships. However, he surpasses his teacher by achieving a greater concentration in his composition. The horsemen and figures on the left have been massed into a group by a dark shadow, which suppresses detail in almost half the painting. This focuses attention on the main action and intensifies the mood. (Rosenberg, Jakob., Seymour Slive., E. H. Ter Kuile. Dutch Art and Architecture 1600 to 1800.) In turn to the many influences on Rembrandt, there were many artists who were influenced by Rembradt’s works. One such artist was Govert Flinck. There is evidence that Flinck spent a year with Rembrandt and learned to imitate his style so closely that some of his pictures were mistaken for authentic Rembrants. Some of his earliest works show that Flinck was very clever at imitating the lively chiaroscuro of Rembrandt’s early Baroque phase. His portrait of Samuel Manasseh ben Israel, is one of his best approximations of Rembrandt. Flinck as a colorist tends to be variegated and than Rembrandt. Another great artist that was influenced by Rembrandt was Ferdinand Bol. Early portraits by Bol are very similar to the commissioned works Rembrandt made in the late thirties and early forties, in them he successfully incorporates the transparent chiaroscuro of Rembrandt’s middle period. Elizabeth Bas, once attributed to Rembrandt, is thought to have been done by Bol. (Rosenberg, Jakob., Seymour Slive., E. H. Ter Kuile. Dutch Art and Architecture 1600 to 1800.) One of the artists that was most strongly influenced by Rembrandt was Salomon Koninck. Koninck adopted Rembrandt’s strong chiaroscuro, baroque compositions, types, and trappings in his paintings of picturesque philosophers and rabbis and in his biblical compositions. Gerbrandt van den Eeckhout was also influenced by Rembrandt’s style during the middle period, especially his religious pictures and portraits. One of his finest works, Peter Healing the Lame, achieves a truly Rembrandtesque effect with his chiaroscuro and color. (Rosenberg, Jakob., Seymour Slive., E. H. Ter Kuile. Dutch Art and Architecture 1600 to 1800.) Nicolaes Maes was another artist that was also heavily influenced by Rembrandt. He was able to capture aspects of Rembrandt’s tenderness and intimacy. Maes’ Young Girl leaning on a Window is clearly derived from pictures such as Rembrandt’s Young Girl at a half-open Door. Maes adopts Rembrandt’s warm harmonies of red and yellow, black and white within a golden chiaroscuro. The sobriety and dark tonality of Frans Hal’s late portraits, the grandeur of the landscapes of Jacob van Ruisdael, and the rich chiaroscuro of Willem Kalf’s monumental still-lifes suggest that Rembradt’s mature style made a profound impression on some of Holland’s most creative artists. (Rosenberg, Jakob., Seymour Slive., E. H. Ter Kuile. Dutch Art and Architecture 1600 to 1800.) It is easy to see that Rembrandt was inspired and influenced by many different artists. It is also easy to see that Rembrandt influenced many artists that came after him. One of the biggest influences on Rembrandt was Tintoretto’s use of chiaroscuro, and the biggest influence that Rembrandt past down, was his color scheme. Bibliography: Rosenberg, Jakob., Seymour Slive., E. H. Ter Kuile. Dutch Art and Architecture 1600 to 1800. Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn. Rembrandt: selected paintings. Word Count: 1999
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