Harmensz. van Rijn Rembrandt

Learn about HARMENSZ. VAN RIJN REMBRANDT (1606-1669), Old Masters artist,their past and upcoming works offered at auction at Christie's

The son of a miller, Rembrandt was born in Leiden, where he studied painting first with Jacob van Swanenburgh and then with Pieter Lastman in Amsterdam. He opened a workshop in Leiden in around 1624, shared with his friend Jan Lievens, where he aimed to establish himself as a history painter, winning the admiration of the poet and courtier Constantijn Huygens. Seeking to develop his career, he moved to Amsterdam in 1631 and joined the Guild of Saint Luke in 1634, in which year he also married his wife Saskia. She died in 1642 shortly after the birth of their son Titus, by which point Rembrandt was already in financial straits due to excessive spending on paintings, antiquities and props for his history pictures. By 1656 he was close to bankruptcy and was forced to sell much of his collection, before being obliged in 1660 to move to more modest accommodation. The last few years of his life were dogged by financial difficulties and darkened by the death of his beloved son Titus in 1668, whom he survived by only a year.

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