Rembrandt was born in Leiden on July 15,
1606, his full name Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn. He was the son of a
miller. Despite the fact that he came from a family of relatively modest
means, his parents took great care with his education. Rembrandt began
his studies at the Latin School, and at the age of 14 he was enrolled at
the University of Leiden. The program did not interest him, and he soon
left to study art - first with a local master, Jacob van Swanenburch,
and then, in Amsterdam, with Pieter Lastman, known for his historical
paintings. After six months, having mastered everything he had been
taught, Rembrandt returned to Leiden, where he was soon so highly
regarded that although barely 22 years old, he took his first pupils.
One of his students was the famous artist Gerrit Dou.
Rembrandt moved to
Amsterdam in 1631; his marriage in 1634 to Saskia van Uylenburgh, the
cousin of a successful art dealer, enhanced his career, bringing him in
contact with wealthy patrons who eagerly commissioned portraits.
Because of his renown as a teacher, his studio was filled with pupils,
some of whom (such as Carel Fabritius) were already trained artists. In
the 20th century, scholars have reattributed a number of his paintings
to his associates; attributing and identifying Rembrandt's works is an
active area of art scholarship.
In contrast to his
successful public career, however, Rembrandt's family life was marked by
misfortune. Between 1635 and 1641 Saskia gave birth to four children,
but only the last, Titus, survived; her own death came in 1642- at the
age of 30. Hendrickje Stoffels, engaged as his housekeeper about 1649,
eventually became his common-law wife and was the model for many of his
pictures. Despite Rembrandt's financial success as an artist, teacher,
and art dealer, his penchant for ostentatious living forced him to
declare bankruptcy in 1656. An inventory of his collection of art and
antiquities, taken before an auction to pay his debts, showed the
breadth of Rembrandt's interests: ancient sculpture, Flemish and Italian
Renaissance paintings, Far Eastern art, contemporary Dutch works,
weapons, and armour. Unfortunately, the results of the auction -
including the sale of his house - were disappointing.
These problems in no way
affected Rembrandt's work; if anything, his artistry increased.
His personal life, however, continued to be marred by sorrow. His
beloved Hendrickje died in 1663, and his son, Titus, in 1668- only 27
years of age. Eleven months later, on October 4, 1669, Rembrandt died in
Amsterdam.
Butchery became a topic of Western art
along with the development of anatomical illustration in the seventeenth
century. For Dutch painters it provided a way of dramatising the cult of
the everyday, as in the uncompromising realism of Rembrandt's depiction
of a slaughtered ox, displayed for sale, with no hint of a symbolic
meaning.
