| Rembrandt, Creation of his own style:
In 1631, Rembrandt relocated to Amsterdam, where the aesthetics of the baroque period were characteristic, and the dynamism and the external emotionality of his work found him many well-to-do admirers such as Huygens, who noticed a new Rubens in Rembrandt. One year later, Lievens closed Leiden studio and went to England, where he came under the influence Van Dyck and worked in Antwerp till returning back to his homeland in 1644.
In Rembrandt’s creative biography, his resettlement period in Amsterdam was marked by the creation of many sketches of men and women's heads, in which he explores the originality of each model and experiments with lively facial expressions. These small products, which were subsequently by mistake accepted as images of the father and mother of the artist, became the Rembrandt portraitist's present school. At that time, portrait painting allowed the artist to get orders from well-to-do Amsterdam burghers and through which, he achieved commercial success.
The self-portrait genre occupies a prominent place in the creativity of Rembrandt during his first years in Amsterdam. By painting himself in fantastic attire and intricate poses, Rembrandt contemplates new ways of developing his art. Sometimes, elderly characters in sketches, which were dressed up in magnificent eastern suits by the artist transform into bible characters in his imagination; such as “Prophet Jeremiah” from the collection of Rijksmuseum (1630). For Fredrick Henry, Prince of Orange, he creates a pair of paintings “The Elevation of the Cross” and “Descent from the Cross” (1632-33), inspired by Rubens's multi-figured engravings.
Success in Amsterdam:
The fame of Rembrandt as an outstanding artist spread across Amsterdam after the completion of his group portrait “The Anatomy Lesson of Dr.Nicolaes Tulp” (1632), in which attentive medical students were not lined up in parallel rows facing the spectators, as it was accepted in portrait paintings during those times, but strictly distributed in a pyramidal arrangement, allowing to psychologically unite all the persons in a single group. The richness of the facial expressions of each individual and the dramatic use of chiaroscuro summarizes the years of experimentation, indicating the onset of the creative maturity of the artist.
The first years in Amsterdam were happiest in Rembrandt's life. His marriage, which took place in 1634 with Saskia van Uylenburg opened, before the artist the doors of private residences of the prosperous burghers. Saskia’s father – burgomaster of Leeuwarden, was also one of the many burghers. Rembrandt got orders one after the other; no less than fifty portraits are dated to the first years Rembrandt stayed in Amsterdam. A lot of noise was created by his double portrait of Mennonite Preacher Cornelis Anslo.
The financial well-being of Rembrandt allowed him to buy his own private residence, which was filled by him with art items, procured from antique dealers. Not only paintings of Italian artists and engravings but also antique sculptures, guns and musical instruments were included amongst the art items purchased by Rembrandt. For studying the great artists Rembrandt didn't need did not to leave for Amsterdam since masterpieces such as Titian's “Ariosto” and the portrait of Baldassare Castiglione by Raphael were there. Under the influence of these works, Rembrandt shifts from double portraits to large-scale images of models in full size (portrait of Andries de Graeff, 1639).
The paintings of Saskia belong to a number of prominent portraits of those years – Saskia sometimes painted in around the house, lying in bed, sometimes in magnificent attire (portrait of Saskia, 1634) and dramatized appearances (“Saskia as “Flora”, 1634). Their son “Titus” was born in 1641; three more children died in infancy. The high living standards of the artist in the years of his marriage to Saskia are expressed with greatest bravura in the Dresden Self-portrait as “The Prodigal Son in the Tavern” with Saskia in lap” (1636). The iconography of this glorified work is traced back to the moralistic images of lechery of the prodigal son from the bible parable and thereby foretells the inevitability of future repentance.
This prediction came true – Saskia died a year later after the birth of their son and a period of continuous personal losses began in Rembrandt's life.
Interaction with Italians:
Not only portrait works but also multi-figured paintings on mythological and bible themes which reflected the concern of the artist about external effects show Rembrandt's creative interaction with the great Italian artists and in this respect, conformable products of artists of baroque Italy.
The well known “Danae” (1636) still shines brightly; this painting is one of the best creations the artist presented to Huygens, which is mentioned in their correspondence. “Abduction of Europe” and “Abduction of Ganimeda” (both 1632) - also usual subjects of Italian painting – were absolutely transformed by Rembrandt by using in the first case, Dutch landscapes and in the second the ironical interpretation of a legendary young handsome man as an infant with a terrible face deformed by grimace.
As with the working years with Lastman, the creative imagination of Rembrandt demanded bible subjects with comparative undeveloped iconography. In “Belshazzar’s Feast” (1635), genuine terror is written on the faces of the characters and an impression of anxiety amplified by the dramatic illumination of the scene. No less dynamic was “Abraham’s Sacrifice” (1635) – a motionless knife in the air lends the spontaneity of a photographic image to the scene. Rembrandt developed effects of light and shade even in etchings (“The Christ before Pilate”, 1636), which quite often had many preparatory preceding paintings. Throughout his life, his etchings fetched a good income, actually more than the paintings of Rembrandt. As an etcher, he was especially famous for the use of the dry needle, dynamic strokes and lasting techniques.
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Artists around the world are celebrating the 404th birthday of Rembrandt van Rijn today. Rembrandt is one of the most famous painters in art history and the most famous Dutch painter. After becoming famous, Rembrandt taught many artists in his Dutch studio for over 20 years - the period that historians call the Dutch Golden Age. During this period the Dutch style of painting was largely shaped by Rembrandt studio and his techniques were passed from generation to generation of Dutch artists.
