ndts creations. Bythe mid 1650s he was living so far beyond his means, along with his lavishcollections of paintings and because he had begun to paint for pleasure more thanfor profit, he eventually had to declare bankruptcy. He slowly lost his popularity,but he continued to paint. He died a debtor in Amsterdam in October of 1669.Rembrandt created so many works of art that not every piece could be discussed. Duringthe early years, his paintings show the influence of his teacher, Pieter Lastman. His subjectswere dramatic, compositional organization was crowded, and he used energetic opposition ofshadow and light. He frequently chose historical and religious themes for his work. In many ofhis early works, he shows his love of exotic costumes. A perfect example is The Noble Slavfrom 1632. He was preoccupied with features of the sitter and the many details surround themsuch as furniture and clothes. Sometimes when using family members, he would conceal themas another, such as when he used Saskia as Flora from 1634 or his Mother as the ProphetessAnna from 1631. During this time he was so engrossed in self analysis that he created manyself-portraits, around sixty. Perhaps, he created more self-portraits than any other artist has. Many of this pictures contributed to studies of various emotions, which were later used in hisreligious and historical paintings. The may have also been used to illustrate his command ofchiaroscuro, or the use of light and shade without color. In one painting deep shadows cover hisface, leaving his features almost unrecognizable. In Protestant Holland during this time,religious art was valued as not being important. Even so, biblical and religious subjectsaccounted for about one-third of his work. Drama, as part of the Baroque period, was fullyaccentuated.The middle period Rembrandts influence of classicism is shown. In the Portraitof the Mennonite Preacher Anslo and His Wife from 1641, the interact...
