Rembrandt

===Periods, themes and styles===
[[File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn - The Abduction of Europa - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright=1|[[The Abduction of Europa (Rembrandt)|''The Abduction of Europa'']] (1632) has been described as "...a shining example of the 'golden age' of [[Baroque]] painting".<ref>Clough, p. 23</ref>]]
[[File:Rembrandt, Portret van Haesje v.Cleyburg 1634.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Portrait of Haesje Jacobsdr. van Cleyburg from Rotterdam (1634) completed during the height of his commercial success]] [[File:Rembrandt van Rijn (Leiden 1606-Amsterdam 1669) - Self-Portrait in a Flat Cap - RCIN 404120 - Royal Collection.jpg|thumb|Rembrandt van Rijn – Self-Portrait with a flat cap (1642) [[Royal Collection]] ]]
[[File:Rembrandt - Zelfportret - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright=1|''Self Portrait'' (1658), now housed in the [[Frick Collection]] in New York City, has been described as "the calmest and grandest of all his portraits".<ref>Clark 1978, p. 28</ref>]]

Throughout his career, Rembrandt took as his primary subjects the themes of portraiture, landscape and narrative painting. For the last, he was especially praised by his contemporaries, who extolled him as a masterly interpreter of biblical stories for his skill in representing emotions and attention to detail.<ref>van der Wetering, p. 268.</ref> Stylistically, his paintings progressed from the early "smooth" manner, characterized by fine technique in the portrayal of illusionistic form, to the late "rough" treatment of richly variegated paint surfaces, which allowed for an illusionism of form suggested by the tactile quality of the paint itself. Rembrandt must have realized that if he kept the paint deliberately loose and "paint-like" on some parts of the canvas, the perception of space became much greater.<ref>van de Wetering, pp. 160, 190.</ref> 

A parallel development may be seen in Rembrandt's skill as a printmaker. In the etchings of his maturity, particularly from the late 1640s onward, the freedom and breadth of his drawings and paintings found expression in the print medium as well. The works encompass a wide range of subject matter and technique, sometimes leaving large areas of white paper to suggest space, at other times employing complex webs of line to produce rich dark tones.<ref>Ackley, p. 14.</ref>

Lastman's influence on Rembrandt was most prominent during his period in Leiden from 1625 to 1631.<ref name="Wetering-284">van de Wetering, p. 284.</ref> Paintings were rather small but rich in details (for example, in costumes and jewelry). Religious and [[allegory|allegorical]] themes were favored, as were [[tronie]]s.<ref name=Wetering-284/> In 1626 Rembrandt produced his first etchings, the wide dissemination of which would largely account for his international fame.<ref name=Wetering-284/> In 1629, he completed ''[[Judas Repentant, Returning the Pieces of Silver]]'' and ''[[Artist in his studio|The Artist in His Studio]]'', works that evidence his interest in the handling of light and variety of paint application and constitute the first major progress in his development as a painter.<ref>van de Wetering, p. 285.</ref>

During his early years in Amsterdam (1632–1636), Rembrandt began to paint dramatic biblical and mythological scenes in high contrast and of large format (''[[The Blinding of Samson]]'', 1636, ''[[Belshazzar's Feast (Rembrandt)|Belshazzar's Feast]]'', c.&nbsp;1635 ''[[Danaë (Rembrandt)|Danaë]]'', 1636 but reworked later), seeking to emulate the baroque style of [[Rubens]].<ref>van de Wetering, p. 287.</ref> With the occasional help of assistants in Uylenburgh's workshop, he painted numerous portrait commissions both small ([[Jacob de Gheyn III (painting)|''Jacob de Gheyn&nbsp;III'']]) and large (''Portrait of the Shipbuilder Jan Rijcksen and his Wife'', 1633, ''[[Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp]]'', 1632).<ref>van de Wetering, p. 286.</ref>

By the late 1630s, Rembrandt had produced a few paintings and many etchings of [[landscape painting|landscapes]]. Often these landscapes highlighted natural drama, featuring uprooted trees and ominous skies (''Cottages before a Stormy Sky'', c.&nbsp;1641; ''The Three Trees'', 1643). From 1640 his work became less exuberant and more sober in tone, possibly reflecting personal tragedy. Biblical scenes were now derived more often from the [[New Testament]] than the [[Old Testament]], as had been the case before. In 1642 he painted ''[[The Night Watch]]'', the most substantial of the important group portrait commissions which he received in this period, and through which he sought to find solutions to compositional and narrative problems that had been attempted in previous works.<ref>van de Wetering, p. 288.</ref>

In the decade following the ''Night Watch'', Rembrandt's paintings varied greatly in size, subject, and style. The previous tendency to create dramatic effects primarily by strong contrasts of light and shadow gave way to the use of frontal lighting and larger and more saturated areas of color. Simultaneously, figures came to be placed parallel to the picture plane. These changes can be seen as a move toward a classical mode of composition and, considering the more expressive use of brushwork as well, may indicate a familiarity with Venetian art (''Susanna and the Elders'', 1637–47).<ref>van de Wetering, pp. 163–165.</ref>
At the same time, there was a marked decrease in painted works in favor of etchings and drawings of landscapes.<ref>van de Wetering, p. 289.</ref> In these graphic works natural drama eventually made way for quiet Dutch rural scenes.

In the 1650s, Rembrandt's style changed again. Colors became richer and brush strokes more pronounced. With these changes, Rembrandt distanced himself from earlier work and current fashion, which increasingly inclined toward fine, detailed works. His use of light becomes more jagged and harsh, and shine becomes almost nonexistent. His singular approach to paint application may have been suggested in part by familiarity with the work of [[Titian]], and could be seen in the context of the then current discussion of 'finish' and surface quality of paintings. Contemporary accounts sometimes remark disapprovingly of the coarseness of Rembrandt's brushwork, and the artist himself was said to have dissuaded visitors from looking too closely at his paintings.<ref>van de Wetering, pp. 155–165.</ref> The tactile manipulation of paint may hearken to medieval procedures, when mimetic effects of rendering informed a painting's surface. The result is a richly varied handling of paint, deeply layered and often apparently haphazard, which suggests form and space in both an illusory and highly individual manner.<ref>van de Wetering, pp. 157–158, 190.</ref>

In later years, [[Bible|biblical]] themes were often depicted but emphasis shifted from dramatic group scenes to intimate portrait-like figures (''James the Apostle'', 1661). In his last years, Rembrandt painted his most deeply reflective self-portraits (from 1652 to 1669 he painted fifteen), and several moving images of both men and women (''[[The Jewish Bride]]'', c.&nbsp;1666)—in love, in life, and before God.<ref>"In Rembrandt's (late) great portraits we feel face to face with real people, we sense their warmth, their need for sympathy and also their loneliness and suffering. Those keen and steady eyes that we know so well from Rembrandt's self-portraits must have been able to look straight into the human heart." Gombrich, p. 423.</ref><ref>"It (''The Jewish Bride'') is a picture of grown-up love, a marvelous amalgam of richness, tenderness, and trust... the heads which, in their truth, have a spiritual glow that painters influenced by the classical tradition could never achieve." Clark, p. 206.</ref>