Paul Rembrandt van Rhyn, one of the most eminent painters and engravers
of the Dutch school, was the son of a miller, and was born in 1606, at a
small village on the banks of the Rhine, between Leyderdorp and Leyden,
whence he was called Rembrandt van Rhyn, though his family name was
Gerretz. It is said that his father, being in easy circumstances,
intended him for one of the learned professions, but was induced by
Rembrandt's passion for the art to allow him to follow his inclination.
He entered the school of J. van Zwaanenberg at Amsterdam, where he
continued three years, and made such surprising progress as astonished
his instructor. Having learned from Zwaanenberg all he was capable of
imparting, he next studied about six months with Peter Lastmann, and
afterwards for a short time with Jacob Pinas, from whom it is said he
acquired that taste for strong contrasts of light and shadow, for which
his works are so remarkable. He was, however, more indebted for his best
improvement to the vivacity of his own genius, and an attentive study of
nature, than to any information he derived from his instructors. On
returning home, he fitted up an attic room, with a skylight, in his
father's mill, for a studio, where he probably pursued his labors for
several years, as he did not remove to Amsterdam till 1630. Here he
studied the grotesque figure of the Dutch boor, or the rotund contour of
the bar-maid of an ale house, with as much precision as the great
artists of Italy have imitated the Apollo Belvidere, or the Medicean
Venus. He was exceedingly ignorant, and it is said that he could
scarcely read. He was of a wayward and eccentric disposition, and sought
for recreation among the lowest orders of the people, in the amusements
of the ale-house, contracting habits which continued through life; even
when in prosperous circumstances, he manifested no disposition to
associate with more refined and intellectual society. It will readily be
perceived that his habits, disposition, and studies could not conduct
him to the noble conceptions of Raffaelle, but rather to an exact
imitation of the lowest order of nature, with which he delighted to be
surrounded. The life of Rembrandt is much involved in fable, and in
order to form a just estimate of his powers, it is necessary to take
these things into consideration. It is said by some writers, that, had
he studied the antique, he would have reached the very perfection of the
art, but Nieuwenhuys, in his review of the Lives and Works of the most
eminent painters of the Dutch and Flemish schools, in Smith's Catalogue
raisonné, vol xii. and supplement, says that he was by no means
deficient on that point. "For it is known that he purchased, at a high
price, casts from the antique marbles, paintings, drawings, and
engravings by the most excellent Italian masters, to assist him in his
studies, and which are mentioned in the inventory of his goods when
seized for debt."
He then goes on to give a list of the works so seized. Be this as it may
he certainly never derived any advantage from them. He had collected a
great variety of old armor, sabres, flags, and fantastical vestments,
ironically terming them his antiques, and frequently introducing them
into his pictures.
Rembrandt had already brought both the arts of painting and engraving to
very great perfection (in his own way), when a slight incident led him
to fame and fortune. He was induced by a friend to take one of his
choicest pictures to a picture-dealer at the Hague, who, being charmed
with the performance, instantly gave him a hundred florins for it, and
treated him with great respect. This occurrence served to convince the
public of his merit, and contributed to make the artist sensible of his
own abilities. In 1630 he went to Amsterdam, where he married a handsome
peasant girl (frequently copied in his works), and settled there for
life. His paintings were soon in extraordinary demand, and his fame
spread far and wide; pupils flocked to his studio, and he received for
the instruction of each a hundred florins a year. He was so excessively
avaricious that he soon abandoned his former careful and finished
style, for a rapid execution; also frequently retouched the pictures of
his best pupils, and sold them as his own. His deceits in dating several
of his etchings at Venice, to make them more saleable, led some of his
biographers to believe that he visited Italy, and resided at Venice in
1635 and 1636; but it has been satisfactorily proved that he never left
Holland, though he constantly threatened to do so, in order to increase
the sale of his works. As early as 1628, he applied himself zealously to
etching, and soon acquired great perfection in the art. His etchings
were esteemed as highly as his paintings, and he had recourse to several
artifices to raise their price and increase their sales. For example, he
sold impressions from the unfinished plates, then finished them, and
after having used them, made some slight alterations, and thus sold the
same works three or four times; producing what connoisseurs term
_variations_ in prints. By these practices, and his parsimonious manner
of living, Rembrandt amassed a large fortune.