Rembrandt House

5/2/2010


The Rembrandt House in Amsterdam was magnificent. The home was a simple Protestant style 17th century town house with green shutters but inside was a large three-story home filled with the art of the Dutch master. The two art studios were inspiring, the painting studio on the second floor had a large easle used by the artist. The walls were surrounded with his paintings and shelves housed plaster busts of famous classic and renaissance sculptures. The printmaking studio had Rembrandt's original printing press made completely out of wood. Next to the press is a table where he created his copper etched plates some which were on view.

The rooms on the next floor contained Rembrandt's collection of exotic treasures that he used for inspiration in his artworks. He had items of clothing including exotic fabrics and armour which served as props for portraiture. He also had a vast collection of taxidermy animals including an alligator, armadillo and pufferfish. He also had a vast collection of art by artits of his generation that he admired including paintings by the famous landscape artist Hercules Seghers.

The living room, bedroom and kitchen were decorated with beautiful blue and white porcelain tiles and two fireplaces in each room with ornate decorations. He lived her with his wife Saskia and his son Titus. After Saskia's death he lived in the house first with Geerte Dircx and then Heindricke Stoffells both were his mistresses and helped take care of his son. Later in his career after he went bankrupt, Rembrandt had to sell his house and all his possessions because of his obsession with spending more money than he earned. At this time, Heindricke and Titus took over Rembrandt's business and served as his art dealers until his death.

I will never forget this experience! As a art historian and printmaker, Rembrandt's art has always been a great influence on my own style of creating copperplate etchings.


Posted at 2:43 PM by Robert Kennon