A COLOSSUS CALLED REMBRANDT | KAIROS GLOBAL | APRIL 2023

Author: Shaji Joseph Arakkal

Intro: Shaji Joseph Arakkal writes about the Dutch master Rembrandt and his works. 

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn is the famous painter who lived from 1606 to 1669 (63 years) during the Dutch Golden Age. Rembrandt is estimated to have drawn around 300 paintings, 300 etchings and 2,000 drawings. Contributing many innovative and unique works of art in these three mediums, Rembrandt is recognised by the art world as one of the greatest visual artists in the history of art and a prominent figure in Dutch art history.

Unlike other Dutch artists of the period, Rembrandt's work depicts a wide variety of styles and subjects, including portraits, self-portraits, landscapes, genre scenes, allegorical and historical scenes, biblical and mythological themes, and animal studies. Like many other artists of the Dutch Golden Age, Rembrandt was also an avid art collector and dealer.

Though Rembrandt never went abroad, he was greatly influenced by the works of masters like the Dutch artist Pieter Lastman who studied in Italy, Italian artist Caravaggio and Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens. After gaining recognition as a portrait painter, Rembrandt's later years were filled with personal tragedy and financial hardship. Yet his engravings and paintings remained popular throughout his lifetime, and his reputation as an artist was great. He was mentor to many of the important Dutch painters.

His works displayed his knowledge of classical iconography. When depicting a biblical scene, Rembrandt's knowledge of the Word of God in question and his assimilation of that classical composition was thorough and evident. His observations about the Jewish population of Amsterdam are also evident in his works.

Rembrandt considered the Bible to be the world’s greatest book and loved it with reverence throughout his life, in prosperity and in poverty, in success and in failure. He never hesitated to choose biblical passages as subjects for his paintings and other graphic expressions. Rembrandt was the first to dare to choose Jews from his neighbourhood to use as models for the stories of his sacred narratives.

The French Romantic master Eugène Delacroix expressed his admiration for Rembrandt in a unique way, writing in his journal, ‘Perhaps one day, we will find that Rembrandt is a better painter than Raphael.’

His compassion and empathy towards the poor earned him the sobriquet, ‘one of the great prophets of civilization’. But no doubt, the art world salutes Rembrandt as a ‘colossus of art’.