Rembrandt

===Rembrandt and the Jewish world===
{{See also|History of the Jews in Amsterdam}}
[[File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn - Portret van een paar als oudtestamentische figuren, genaamd 'Het Joodse bruidje' - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright=1|''[[The Jewish Bride]]'' ({{circa|1665}}–1669), now housed at [[Rijksmuseum]]. [[Vincent van Gogh]]'s wrote in 1885, "I should be happy to give 10 years of my life if I could go on sitting here in front of this picture (''The Jewish Bride'') for a fortnight, with only a crust of dry bread for food." In a letter to [[Theo van Gogh (art dealer)|his brother Theo]], Vincent wrote, "What an intimate, what an infinitely sympathetic picture it is."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Masters, Tim |date=14 October 2014 |title=Exhibition paints Rembrandt as 'modern' artist |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-29484448 |access-date=14 May 2020 |publisher=[[BBC.com]] |archive-date=8 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308130505/https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-29484448 |url-status=live }}</ref>]]

In his works, he exhibited knowledge of classical [[iconography]]. A depiction of a biblical scene was informed by Rembrandt's knowledge of the specific text, his assimilation of classical composition, and his observations of Amsterdam's [[Jewish Amsterdam|Jewish population]].<ref name="Clark_203_204">{{Harvnb|Clark|1969|pp=203–204}}</ref> Because of his empathy for the human condition, he has been called "one of the great prophets of civilization".<ref name="Clark_205">{{Harvnb|Clark|1969|pp=205}}</ref>
Rembrandt had a considerable influence on many modern Jewish artists, writers and scholars ([[art critic]]s and art historians in particular).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Golahny, Amy |date=April 2004 |title=Book Review: ''Rembrandt's Jews'' by Steven Nadler |url=https://hnanews.org/hnar/reviews/rembrandts-jews/ |access-date=14 July 2020 |website=Historians of Netherlandish Art Reviews (hnanews.org/hnar/reviews) |archive-date=17 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200717104818/https://hnanews.org/hnar/reviews/rembrandts-jews/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Derman, Ushi |date=13 July 2020 |title=Was Rembrandt "One of ours"? How The Dutch Genius Became a Jew of Honor |url=https://www.bh.org.il/blog-items/rembrandt-one-dutch-genius-became-jew-honor/ |access-date=20 July 2020 |website=[[Beit Hatfutsot]] (bh.org.il) |archive-date=18 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200718083133/https://www.bh.org.il/blog-items/rembrandt-one-dutch-genius-became-jew-honor/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The German-Jewish painter [[Max Liebermann]] said, "Whenever I see a [[Frans Hals]], I feel like painting; whenever I see a Rembrandt, I feel like giving up."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Molina Cortón |first=Juan |title=Dánae – Mito, poder y erotismo en la pintura occidental |publisher=Cultiva Libros |year=2014 |location=Madrid, Spain |language=es |chapter=Chap. IX}}</ref> [[Marc Chagall]] wrote in 1922, "Neither [[Imperial Russia]], nor the Russia of the [[Soviets]] needs me. They don't understand me. I am a stranger to them," and he added, "I'm certain Rembrandt loves me":<ref>Wullschlager, Jackie: ''Chagall: A Biography''. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008), p. 274</ref>

{{blockquote|<!--It has proved a comfort to me, [[The Holocaust|in this era of European Jewish tragedy]], to dwell upon the life and work of Rembrandt. Here was a man of Germanic ancestry who did not regard the Jews in the Holland of his day as a "misfortune," but approached them with friendly sentiments, dwelt in their midst, and portrayed their personalities and ways of life.--> Rembrandt  regarded the Bible as the greatest Book in the world and held it in reverent affection all his life, in affluence and poverty, in success and failure. He never wearied in his devotion to biblical themes as subjects for his paintings and other graphic presentations, and in these portrayals he was the first to have the courage to use the Jews of his environment as models for the heroes of the sacred narratives.|Franz Landsberger, a German Jewish émigré to America, the author of ''Rembrandt, the Jews, and the Bible'' (1946)<ref>Landsberger, Franz: ''Rembrandt, the Jews, and the Bible''. Translated from the German by Felix N. Gerson. (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1946)</ref><ref>Zell, Michael: ''Reframing Rembrandt: Jews and the Christian Image in Seventeenth-Century Amsterdam''. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002), pp. 45–46</ref>}}