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 a Religious Painter Rembrandt a Religious Painter “The beauty of the images moves me to contemplation, as a meadow delights the eyes an subtly infuses the soul with the glory of God.” (CCC 1162 found on Art as a form o Christian Meditation http://landru.i-link-2.net/shnyves/Art_in_Meditation.html ) Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was born on July 15 of the year 1606 in the university city of Leiden. His family was Catholic although his father was the only member of his family who converted from Catholicism to Calvinism in the late 16th century. His parents had 9 children, Rembrandt being the second youngest. “At the age of seven, he was sent to the Leiden Latin School to prepare for the university… as his brothers were sent out to learn a trade. This suggests that at an early age Rembrandt showed a more than average intelligence and that his parents were willing to educate him for a profession, very likely as a city administrator.” (The new Encyclopedia Britannica 1974) Rembrandt left the Latin School, at 14; he was very well trained in classical literature and a “well-trained Latinist.” Rembrandt then went to Leiden University were he found that his true love was for painting. His parents then removed him from the University and had him sent to a painter, Mr. Jacob Isaacxsz van Swanenburch. After three years with the painter his father took him to Amsterdam to the painter Pieter Lastman where he became an apprentice. His parents did this because Rembrandt showed more a liking in drawing and painting historical and biblical scenes and images and there was no painter in Leiden who was proficient in religious subjects. “1624 Six months further education at Pieter Lastman in Amsterdam, perhaps also for a short while at Jacob Pynas.” (Rembrandt’s Life- His Biography http://www.screendesign.de/remfus.htm) Rembrandt then returned to Leiden to become an independent painter. He then moved to Amsterdam and was paid high commissions to paint portraits. Rembrandt met a man named Hendrick van Uylenburgh an art dealer in Amsterdam. “Rembrandt became an immediate success in Amsterdam.” (The new Encyclopedia Britannica 1974) Rembrandt then married Hendrick van Uylenburgh’s cousin Saskia van Uylenburgh in June 22, 1634. “His religious works were also in demand, and as early as about 1632 he received a commission from Prince Frederik Hendrik in The Hague to paint five scenes from the Passion of Christ, which was completed in 1939.” (The new Encyclopedia Britannica 1974) In Rembrandt’s painting The Good Samaritan the beaten traveler is seen being lifted into the inn from a horse. In this same painting you can see a grotesque dog squatting down to relieve himself. Rembrandt put this in to make a point. That “A Christian must have reverence for all life, even if aspects of it occasionally disgust him.” (Wallace and the Editors of Time-Life Books 1968) And this was Rembrandt’s understanding of Scripture. That if the Creator chose to give life to ugly dogs man should not quarrel with it. The dog has every right to perform it’s natural function, as does “a Prince of Orange.” In a small number of Rembrandt’s painting you will find his face in the crowd or his body watching on. This is rather relevant because it shows that Rembrandt was more concerned of the feeling of the scene he was painting. In all of his paintings you can get a tremendous feel of the scene. For example in the Stoning of St. Stephen, 1625 Rembrandts “head can be seen just above the kneeling saint.” (Wallace and the Editors of Time-Life Books 1968) Rembrandt’s religious and mythological paintings became popular in the mind 1630s because of their high dramatic expressions and “exciting style.” For example “The Abduction of Ganymede” and “The Blinding of Samson” If you look at “The Blinding of Samson you can almost feel the horror and see his pain as Samson is brutally stabbed in his eyes. Rembrandt suffered many tragedies in his marriage to Saskia. “Her first child, Rumbartus, was baptized on December 15, 1635 in the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam, and exactly two months later was buried in the Zuiderkerk. On July 22 1638, their daughter Cornelia was baptized and died within on August 14. A second daughter also named Cornelia after Rembrandt’s mother, was baptized on July 29, 1640 and hardly survived a month. Their last child, Titus, was baptized on September 22, 1641, and lived twenty-seven years. Saskia herself lived only a few months after the birth of their only surviving child. She died on June 14 1642.” (The new Encyclopedia Britannica 1974) Rembrandt is said to be the most influential and creative Dutch artist of his time. He was an excellent religious and mythological painter, just as well as a portrait painter, landscape painter, historical painter, nudes, and scenes of everyday life. He was a highly religious and intellectual man who was hard working. “Some scholars credit him with about 600 paintings, 300 etchings, and 1,400 drawings, though several of his paintings are now attributed o his students.” (The World Book Encyclopedia 1996) He also made over one hundred self-portraits. Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn died October 4, 1669. Bibliography: Works Cited – Bibliography Robert Wallace and the Editors of Time-Life Books The World of Rembrandt 1606-1669. Time Inc. 1968 The new Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. Vol. 15 William Benton Publisher, Helen Hemingway Benton, Publisher 1974. The World Book Encyclopedia. World Book, Inc. Vol. 16 1996 Image Book Catechism of The Catholic Church. Doubleday, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. 1997 Art as a source of Christian Meditation December 17 2000 http://landru.i-link-2.net/shnyves/Art_in_Meditation.html REMBRANDT’S LIFE – HIS BIOGRAPHY ……….by. SCREENDESIGN.DE ART SERVICE http://www.screendesign.de/remfus.htm Word Count: 858
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