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Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was born July 15, 1606 in Leiden, the Netherlands.

His father worked at


a mill, as did many Dutchmen, but wanted his son to work in an academic profession. However, Rembrandt
left his studies at the University of Leiden in order to study painting.

His work had become well known by 1631 and so he left his successful Leiden studio for Amsterdam. After
this he became Holland's premier painter. As a well-known painter, many of his commissions involved
portraits. He was an upper class citizen, unlike many artists, and married Saskia van Uylenburgh, who
would become one of the main subjects of his works. He known for his landscape paintings as well, and he
was one of the more prominent etchers of the time. In fact, one source says that he ranks "among the
foremost of all time" for his etchings. When he had no other subjects to paint, he created self-portraits, the
number of which is estimated at between 50 and 60.

In his early days in Leiden many of his works showed the lines, light and shade, and color of everyday
people. By 1634 his works were starting to show strong lighting effects. But in 1636, his works displayed
quieter, more reflective scenes, with warmer colors. After his wife's death in 1642 and the deaths of three
children in infancy, he painted his most famous work, The Night Watch. In it, a group of city guardsmen
await the command to fall in line. Unlike most paintings, he shows each guardsmen the care and detail that
he would put into a single portrait, but it seems that the figures of the men are not as interesting as the
whole painting, which shows brilliant color, much movement, and bright light.

Rembrandt, as an upper class citizen, enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle. He bought many paintings from other
artists. However, by the 1650s he was living beyond his means and thus his house and goods had to be
auctioned off in order to pay his debts. He had fewer commissions by that time, but his financial status was
far from intolerable. He died October 4, 1669, in Amsterdam.

While no one is quite sure how many works he made, the current estimate is 2,300. This breaks down into
600 paintings, 300 etchings, and 1,400 drawings. As Dutch painter Jozef Israels said, Rembrandt was truly
"the true type of artist, free, untrammeled, by traditions."

In Leyden, Holland, the year of 1606, the renowned artist known as Rembrandt van Rign was born. At age
seven he began attending grammar school where he studied the classics, Latin, possibly Hebrew, and the
Bible. Seven years later Rembrandt's father made plans for sending him to a university. Rembrandt, whose
only desire was to paint, refused. From the years 1620 to 1623, Rembrandt studied in Amsterdam under
Pieter Lastman. It his Lastman who probably first exposed Rembrandt to Renaissance painting and
Christianity as a major theme. This style of painting Christian topics though, was more one of expressing
fantastic stories, than teaching the Bible. By age nineteen, Rembrandt began to search for his own style. For
the next seven years he painted in a grandiose and lucid technique, painting the stories of Samson, David
and Goliath, Judas, and Saint Paul. These works would soon bring him much fame and wealth, but only for
as long as he was willing to refrain from the avant-garde.

Throughout his career, Rembrandt van Rign went from Amsterdam's famous painter--enjoying great
wealth, to the impecunious, prodigal son--awaiting forgiveness. Rembrandt's life was a tragic one full of
misfortune, loss and grief, leading him to rely greatly on religious solace. No matter what his social status,
fortune or demeanor, Rembrandt always stayed near to his faith in the Bible and its teachings. Though he
was never much a man of chastity or religious practice, his faith in Christianity was unwavering. The
purpose of this paper is to study Rembrandt the artist, how he was affected by social life and, more
pointedly, his religious beliefs. It is not certain whether Rembrandt ever belonged to any particular church,
though many believe he may have been a Mennonite for a short period. What is known for certain though,
is that just prior to his death in 1669, the only possession of a then destitute Rembrandt consisted of a single
book: the Holy Bible.

In 1632, at age 26, Rembrandt left Leyden to live in Amsterdam, the center of intellectual life in Holland.
Two years later he married Saskia van Uylenburch who was from a prestigious family. The Rembrandt of
this time was a man of pleasure and passion, whose artwork had made him a very popular painter and quite
rich. His great joy over his wealth and popularity can be seen in paintings such as Rembrandt & Saskia.
Rembrandt's style at this point combined a fluid, naturalist technique with baroque gesturing. During this
period in his life, Rembrandt became a very large spender, placing large bets and buying most any piece of
art he saw. The method he used in buying a painting was to make his first bid so outrageously high that the
other bidders would not even bother to compete for the piece.

While other artists in Holland were painting landscapes and social life, Rembrandt continued to focus on
the stories of the Bible. Even though much of his subject matter dealt with the Bible though, Rembrandt
was not a true Biblical painter. Paintings like The Raising of Lazarus (1632) depicted Christ as if he were
more a sorcerer than the Son of God. The influences of Jan Sanders van Hemessen (1500-1566) and
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1573-1610) are most evident in Rembrandt's The Calling of St.
Matthew, which uses the method of making biblical scenes worldly and common. The influence of Peter
Paul Rubens (1577-1640) can be seen in Supper at Emmaus (1629). The use of light to create depth and
shadow gives the painting a theatrical aspect common in Rembrandt's work at this time.

His early years in Amsterdam were ones of fame and fortune, but Rembrandt was a man who kept to
himself, staying at home with his wife Saskia and constantly developing his work. In 1641, after several
miscarriages, Saskia gave birth to their son Titus. Despite Rembrandt's rather esteemed social stature, he
remained the recluse, often using Saskia and Titus as models for his paintings. At this time Rembrandt's
work caught the interest of Prince Henry Frederick, who commissioned Rembrandt to produce a series of
paintings, but Rembrandt was not a man to paint as others told him and soon his style would change.

In 1642, after less than eight years of marriage and only a year after the birth of their son, Saskia died,
marking the beginning of Rembrandt's years of grief and loneliness. That same year he hired a widowed
housemaid, Geertghe Dircx, who would soon become very close to him. At this time in his life, it is
believed that Rembrandt may have joined the Mennonite church, but he was probably later kicked out for
his then degrading status, if not for his relationship with Geertghe. In 1649 Rembrandt dismissed Geertghe;
she died a year later in a mad house.

During the years of 1642 through 1648, Rembrandt slowly changed his artwork to a style devoted entirely
to inducing spirituality. When comparing Supper at Emmaus (1648) to its 1629 counterpart, the drastic
change in technique is quite evident. Rembrandt dropped the theatrical quality in his use of layout and
lighting; depicting Christ head on, under normal lighting. Christ is placed in the center beneath an arch,
giving the painting a symmetrical layout. As Rembrandt became more dejected in life, he worked harder at
striving to depict biblical scenes that were pure and of the utmost holiness. His painting Night Watch is
noted for its excellent use of chiaroscuro. The eyes are deep and sorrowful and the expression seems to be
that of triumph over great inner-struggle. It is believed that during this time Rembrandt may have been
subject to the Copernican revolution, and surely this art piece seems to show that Rembrandt was
reclaiming his solitude. Unfortunately, his drastic change in style cost him his popularity, which of course
also meant his income.

In the early Renaissance, art was a way to teach the Bible to those who could not read. Since Christianity
spread most quickly among the lower class, who were illiterate, this was especially important. As the years
past though, literacy increased and art became less biblical. Calvinism had some effect on this because
there was a fear of idol worship and much art was destroyed as a result. The Protestant Reformation did not
condemn artwork, but instead placed its emphasis on Bible study. The year 1648 was one of victory over
Spain and so many artists in Holland based their artwork on this subject. Rembrandt was still focusing on
biblical scenes, becoming truer to the spiritual aspects to be found. His artwork was no longer based on the
Renaissance idea of humanism and the glory of man, but instead depicted man as humble before God.

Many believe that Rembrandt may have been the most influenced of all artist by the Protestant
Reformation. The Reformation was undoubtedly compatible to Rembrandt's newly found homage to God's
grace and his rejection of human glory and beauty. Rembrandt was also very fond of the Bible. His mother
read the Bible to him every day, and it's believed that many of Rembrandt's paintings depicting a woman
reading the Bible are probably of his mother. Rembrandt himself, unlike most artist of the time, actually
read the whole Bible and painted many different stories as compared to the same four to five repeated by
artists such as Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) and Peter Paul Rubens. Unfortunately, Rembrandt's prestige
continued to decline despite his spiritual enlightenment.

In 1651 Rembrandt met Hendrickje Stoffles, but was unable to marry her because of Saskia's will. He had
already spent the inherited money, which was only his if he never remarried, and by this point Rembrandt
was very poor due to his prior life of frivolous spending. A year later Hendrickje gave birth to their
daughter Cornelia. This combined with Hendickje's four appearances before the church council for living in
sin, completely ravished any esteem society had once held for him.

Four years later Rembrandt was forced into bankruptcy and had to sell all of his acquired paintings. During
these last years in his life, Rembrandt seemed to focus on themes dealing with the mercies of God. From
1656 to 1561 he produced eight paintings of Christ as Gethsemene, as compared to one in the years prior.
Rembrandt never painted a single Last Judgment, but instead painted stories dealing with the themes of
having a second chance such as Raising of Lazarus and Prodigal Son. It seemed as if these topics of
humanity and forgiveness were ones Rembrandt hoped to have for himself. In 1662 Hendrickje died. Titus
died in 1668, less than a year after being married. During this time Rembrandt lived in virtual seclusion,
rarely leaving his home. The last piece Rembrandt would paint before his death in 1669 was The Return of
the Prodigal Son. Rembrandt died in the service of a moneylender; his only procession was a Bible.
Holland's greatest painter was ironically given the modest burial of a peasant.

Rembrandt van Rign evolved from paintings of his merry self wearing a red velvet hat - thrusting forth a
glass of wine, to the stoic Bible scenes reminiscent of Michelangelo's later work. Though not a man of
religious practice, he was a man of great faith. Rembrandt was willing to put his beliefs before material
goods, social status, and wealth. The influence of religious reformation and his tragic social life sent
Rembrandt's work in a direction that, like many great artists, caused him to be scorned by his own
generation, but would later be appreciated and studied forever.

A contemporary of Frans Hals named Rembrandt Van Rijn was the most innovative, prolific and famous of
the Dutch Baroque artists. Known simply as "Rembrandt", the artists is considered to be one of the greatest
painters in the history of Western art. Rembrandt was greatly influenced by the ideals of the Protestant
Reformation as well as the style of the great masters of Catholic Italy and Flanders. He studied the work of
the Venetians, Caravaggio and Rubens. He is regarded as one of the greatest artists in the history of Western
art not only for his extraordinary painting technique, but also for his innovative ability to capture the
private individual and to humanize religion. Rembrandt painted many subjects including genre scenes and
biblical stories.

However, he is perhaps best remembered as a master portraitist and his greatest contribution to the medium
of painting was his innovations in representing light. Rembrandt's mature painting style can be
characterized as: refining light and shade into he finer nuances until they become one. Although definitely
influenced by tenebrism, Rembrandt's lighting technique is less exact and theatrical than Caravaggio's. His
is a more gradual, natural approach to representing light, taking into consideration the way our eye views
light and shadow. Rembrandt captures the way light responds to an object naturally.
We will end our discussion of Rembrandt by looking at an example of a biblical subject done in the graphic
medium of etching. Rembrandt was not only a talented painter, but a gifted graphic artist as well. Prints by
Rembrandt such as "Christ with the Sick around Him, Receiving the Children" from 1649 often
commanded high sums and were very popular with the Dutch. In fact this work was nicknamed the
"Hundred Guilder Print" after it fetched that sum, which was an extremely extravagant price to pay in 1649.
Rembrandt's biblical scene depicts Christ ministering to the sick and orphaned. The simple, meditative
presentation of calm figures in diffused light couldn't be more different from the emotionally charged,
sharply lit, theatrical scenes of saints by the masters of the Italian and Flemish Baroque. The stillness of the
scene encourages the viewer meditate and look inward, formulating their own relationship with the work
and its message. This image is less about the power of the church and more about the humanity and
humility of Christ.
Rembrandt demonstrates his ability to render subtle contrasts of light and shade, even in the delicate
medium of etching. He also demonstrates a unique sensitivity to the symbolic nature of light. Rembrandt's
ability to convey emotion or mood through light is a hallmark trait of his style, and a technique adapted by
future artists, and filmmakers.

One of Bernini's greatest works can be found at the Cornaro Chapel, inside the church of Santa Maria della
Vittoria in Rome. Bernini worked on this private religious commission between 1645 and 1652. The
Cornaros were a wealthy family who asked Bernini to create a sculpture for their private family chapel in
their local parish church. The work of art that Bernini gave them was much more than a mere sculpture,
rather, it was a multi-media piece that included sculpture, architecture, painting and stained glass, the focal
point of which was the dramatic representation of the "Ecstasy of St. Theresa." The German term for a
"total work of art" that employs more than one medium such as this is known as a "Gesamtkunstwerk."
Bernini created a total environment and setting for the subject matter.

On either side of the sculpture the artist carved relief sculptures in polychromatic marble depicting the male
members of the Cornaro family gazing down at the figure of St. Theresa above the altar. The main
sculptural group of St. Theresa and an angel is presented within an architectural setting reminiscent of a
stage. Above the figures is a hidden light source that enhances the glimmering gilded rays of light that rain
down on the pair.

"Bernini was a sculptor, painter and architect and a formative influence as an outstanding exponent of the
Italian Baroque. He was an exceptional portrait artist and owes to his father his accomplished techniques in
the handling of marble and also an impressive list of patrons that included the Borghese and the Barbarini
families. Bernini originally worked in the Late Mannerist tradition but rejected the contrived tendencies of
this style. By 1624 he had adopted an expression that was passionate and full of emotional and
psychological energy. His figures are caught in a transient moment from a single viewpoint, bursting into
the spectator's space. In 1644 such interpretation reaches maturity in his rendition of the vision and Ecstasy
of Saint Teresa. The Spanish nun swoons in heavenly rapture at the point of an angel's arrow. The work is a
prime example of Bernini's vision of a decorative whole combining different materials and colours within
an architectural space. A succession of powerful patrons in Rome and in Paris assured his reputation as an
entrepreneurial artist who captured the spirit of the Counter-Reformation. His extreme and intense
characterizations have fallen in and out of favor but his Baroque legacy remains intact."

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