rembrandt

Rembrandt

 

Rembrandt, (full name: Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn) was born in Leiden in the Netherlands in 1606. At the age of 14, Rembrandt began to study at the famous University of Leiden which was unusual for a miller's son however the academic life did not suit him, after a few months he left to begin an apprenticeship as a painter. He did this because Leiden (the school he was at) did not provide the artistic talents that Rembrandt wanted at the time therefor Rembrandt traveled to Amsterdam to study with Pieter Lastman. Shortly after he moved back to his home town of Leiden however it was a hard climate to work in it was Following the Protestant Reformation, the local churches no longer provided artists with any commissions as the Catholic Church did in other countries. Because of this he had to take commissions from private individuals because of this Rembrandts name became quickly known as a painter of portraits of historical subjects. 

Rembrandt decided not to follow the common way of moveing to italy to learn italin art from first hand as he stongly belived that all he could learn everything from his native home (Leiden).

Rembrandts portraits of other people are very detailed and has a very smooth texture, however he manages to use any different tones and hues in the skin and clothing. Rembrandt also never really incudes a background, by doing this he forces all attention to the detail of the face which is based just off center of the picture.