Rembrandt [antikvár]

.Introduction The scope of Rembrandt's life extended no further than the forty-odd kilometers which separate his birthplace, Leiden, from the Dutch capital, Amsterdam: a flat landscape dominated by water and low skies. Rembrandt was the son of a miller, came from the provinces, and undertook no long journeys. And yet he became an artist who was famous and sought-after throughout Europe. The flourishing art trade in Amsterdam, which brought together a huge quantity of paintings, drawings and prints by famous artists, gave Rembrandt ample opportunity to satisfy his artistic curiosity and to follow the stylistic developments of the time. As the most important Dutch artist, Rembrandt competed with the Flemish artists Peter Paul Rubens of Antwerp for the position of leading artist in Northern Europe. He was certainly aware of this fact and was not even afraid to have his works compared with those of the masters of the Italian Renaissance from Leonardo to Titian: like them, he signed his works with only his first name. As in the case of all great masters, his paintings moved people during his lifetime and had a lasting influence on countless artists. Rembrandt's art has lost nothing of its extraordinary fascination. Over the centuries a wide range of characterizations and interpretations of Rembrandt's art have been provided, but no matter how apt and perceptive they may be, in view of the richness of his oeuvre, which includes painting, prints and drawing, any attempt at neat categorization is bound to fail. The closer one approaches Rembrandt, the more he seems to retreat into the distance. In spite of the countless self-portraits he left, his true face remains hidden. Perhaps the comment of the Florentine scholar and connoisseur Filippo Baldinucci can help us; in 1686 he wrote a comment about Rembrandt which seems rather strange at first sight—that he was an "excellent humorist." Perhaps this is a way to understand the Rembrandt phenomenon: his indefatigable urge to create pictures, his mania for collecting, the complications of his private life, the periods of economic success and disasters—Rembrandt as a mask, an actor playing a role, always in search of identity. Even in his early works he speaks to viewers directly, draws them in and so lets them participate in the actions