Art historyLesson 2 of 2 in the course Baroque and Enlightenment art

Rembrandt: Career, Artistic Techniques, and Changing Legacy

5 flashcards · 5 quiz questions · 5 match pairs · 5 fill-in sentences · English

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Summary

This lesson introduces Rembrandt’s early life, training, and first steps as a professional artist. Understanding his beginnings helps explain how he became one of the leading painters of the Dutch Golden Age.

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was born on 15 July 1606 in Leiden, in the Dutch Republic. He was the ninth child of Harmen Gerritszoon van Rijn, a miller, and Neeltgen Willemsdochter van Zuijtbrouck, a baker’s daughter. His family was relatively well-to-do. His mother was Catholic, while his father belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church. Religious traditions and questions would become important subjects in Rembrandt’s art.

All flashcards

Chiaroscuro
The dramatic use of light and shadow to shape figures and direct attention.
Surface tone
A soft veil of tone created by leaving a thin film of ink on a printing plate.
States of a print
Successive versions of an impression made after further changes to its plate.
Workshop attribution
The challenge of distinguishing an artist’s work from pupils’ or collaborators’ contributions.
Rembrandt’s self-portraits
An extensive body of works that records changes in his appearance and self-presentation.

Quiz questions

  1. Where was Rembrandt’s The Night Watch commissioned to hang?Answer: In the hall of the Kloveniersdoelen
  2. What did Rembrandt do in 1656 when he declared himself insolvent?Answer: Voluntarily surrendered his assets through cessio bonorum
  3. Why did Rembrandt largely stop making prints around 1660?Answer: Financial pressures forced him to sell his printing press
  4. When did the Rembrandt Research Project begin its reassessment of works attributed to him?Answer: 1968
  5. What gives The Night Watch its misleadingly dark appearance?Answer: The painting’s aging

Based on the Wikipedia article Rembrandt, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.

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