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Rembrandt
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One of Rembrandt's largest and most famous paintings is the group portrait known since the mid-18th century as the Night Watch. This is, in fact, not a night scene at all, and it is correctly titled the Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq. For this important commission, completed in 1642 but probably begun in the late 1630s, the artist devised an original, dynamic composition in the baroque style which he had already begun to abandon by this time. The painting was unfortunately cut down in the 18th century. Attempts have been made to relate this scene to an actual historical event, to a contemporary drama, and to emblematic ideas. These different interpretations reflect the persistent impression that this is something more than a group portrait.
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Born in Leiden on July 15, 1606, Rembrandt 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 Leiden University. 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, among them Gerrit Dou.
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Rembrandt had students throughout his career -- sometimes as many as 25 at a time. In some years a sizable part of his income came from fees paid by students and from the sale of paintings and engravings the students made under his guidance. It seems that the variety of art objects he owned was at least partially intended for use in his teaching. A number of his students went on to be successful artists on their own.
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This Rembrandt has no idea that in the future his paintings will be quite desired by museums and thieves, including celluloid ones. He paints, he proclaims, what he sees and not what his patrons want. A huge painting of the Civic Guard is unveiled to shock and denunciations as, Goyaesque, the contributors to the fund for the painting see themselves savagely lampooned.
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In the course of the year Rembrandt makes a large number of etchings, most of them small, which he signs with his customary monogram'RHL (Rembrandt Harmenszoon of Leiden)'. In four etchings he experiments with facial expressions, showing himself surprised, frowning with his mouth open, angry and smiling.
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Like most Dutch children of his day, Rembrandt attended elementary school (c. 1612–16), after which, from roughly 1616 to 1620, he attended the Latin School in Leiden, where biblical studies and classics were the main subjects taught. The school's emphasis on oratory skills may have contributed to his ability to “stage” the figures in scenes depicted in his history paintings, drawings, and etchings. It is not clear whether Rembrandt completed his course of study at the Latin School. His first biographer, Jan Janszoon Orlers (1570–1646), provided a laudatory half-page biography of Rembrandt within his Beschrijvinge der stadt Leyden (1641; “Description of the Town of Leiden”). There Orlers wrote that Rembrandt was taken out of school prematurely and, at his own request, was sent to be trained as a painter.
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Rembrandt