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Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn came into the world in Leiden (Netherlands) on July 15, 1606, in the bosom of a well-to-do family of millers. He received a careful education and entered the University of Leiden, but abandoned his studies after a course because he decided to devote himself to painting. In 1625 he opened a workshop with Jan Lievens and soon had a large clientele. At this stage, his art evolved from pompous gestures and bright colors to small details and chiaroscuro: he made brilliant use of this typical Baroque trait, which gives his work an indisputable mastery and a unique personality.

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After his father's death, he moved to Amsterdam in 1630. There he became associated with Van Uylenburgh, an art dealer whose daughter, Saskia, he would marry. It was the beginning of a period of economic prosperity and social prominence that ended suddenly when his wife died in 1642. Losses followed and in 1656 Rembrandt was forced to auction off all his possessions, including his house and art collections. It was a woman who rescued him from desolation: Hendrickje Stoffels, who entered his service to take care of his son Titus and to whom he became sentimentally attached, although they did not marry so as not to lose Saskia's meager inheritance. Hendrickje's death in 1663 and that of Titus in 1668 preceded that of the artist himself, ruined and desperate, on 4 October 1669.

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The success achieved in youth and the personal tragedy and economic ruin of maturity is reflected in his work, especially in his very numerous self-portraits, a genre that Rembrandt cultivated all his life (the one illustrated in this article is from 1659). The young people are colorful, brilliant and casual, while those of his last years have dark features and transmit a deep serenity and an exact knowledge of the human being. The Dutch painter tried his luck in many genres, but there is no doubt that religious art and portraiture were those in which his talent shone brightest.

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In fact, today he is remembered above all for his masterful group portraits, totally unconventional and full of life and truth thanks to the compositional accuracy, the perfect characterization of the characters, the naturalness of the gestures and the plausibility of the faces. See his three masterpieces of this genre: Dr. Tulp's lesson in anatomy, The Night Rounds, and The Trustees of the Draper's Guild. Rembrandt was also a great drawer and engraver, who left about 1,500 drawings and about 400 very baroque engravings, dominated by action, drama and a very characteristic realism of the art of Flanders and the Netherlands.

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Style of Rembrandt

Rembrandt carried out a large number of works, cultivated the portrait, both collective and individual, the religious theme, the landscape and also made engravings and drawings.

Among his main characteristics is the use of chiaroscuro, sometimes using strong contrasts, and the drama of his scenes, entering into the understanding of human nature.

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The style of his first paintings reflects the influence of his master, Pieter Lastman. He chooses subjects of great dramatism and his compositions present numerous details and very marked contrasts of lights and shadows.

In the portraits, he is interested in the features of his characters, the details of the clothes and the furniture of the room. However, not all the portraits are an objective representation of the portrait, since through them he carried out studies of different emotions that he later incorporated in his works of biblical and historical themes. For this reason, in many of his paintings, we can see members of his family, who were used as models.

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