Rembrandt van Rijn
Who
The dominant painter of the Dutch Golden Age and, separately, the most important etcher who ever lived: around 300 etchings alongside some 300 paintings and thousands of drawings.
Why they matter
The self-portraits, painted across forty years, are the first sustained autobiography in paint. The etchings made him famous across Europe in his own lifetime and were collected, copied and reprinted continuously from the 1630s to now.
What to buy
Originals: Rembrandt etchings exist in every price band, which is what makes the market treacherous. Lifetime impressions run from thousands to millions. The plates passed through several hands after his death and were reprinted, heavily reworked, into the nineteenth century; those posthumous impressions are real Rembrandt plates but weak images. Then there are outright reproductions - Amand-Durand heliogravures from the 1870s are the common ones - which are honest facsimiles often sold as more. Buy from a print dealer or Swann with the Bartsch or New Hollstein number stated. Books: the Rijksmuseum has the paintings; for the etchings, a catalogue with the states illustrated.
Notes
The Rijksmuseum's site publishes all its Rembrandts, paintings and prints, for free download. Operation Night Watch, its ongoing public restoration, has produced the highest-resolution photograph of any painting.
Key works
- The Night Watch (1642) - Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
- The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp (1632) - Mauritshuis, The Hague
- Self-Portrait with Two Circles (c. 1665-1669) - Kenwood House, London
- The Hundred Guilder Print (c. 1648) - etching
In museum collections
- The Night Watch (1642)
Art UK ↗ · Rijksmuseum ↗ · Find a print ↗ - The Jewish Bride (1667)
Rijksmuseum ↗ · Find a print ↗ - Belshazzar's Feast (1636)
Art UK ↗ · Find a print ↗ - Aristotle with a Bust of Homer (1653)
The Met ↗ · Find a print ↗ - Syndics of the Drapers' Guild (1662)
Rijksmuseum ↗ · Find a print ↗ - Bathsheba at Her Bath (1654)
Louvre ↗ · Find a print ↗ - The Abduction of Europa (1632)
Getty ↗ · Find a print ↗ - Judith at the Banquet of Holofernes (1634)
Museo del Prado ↗ · Find a print ↗ - Portrait of Jacob de Gheyn III (1632)
Art UK ↗ · Find a print ↗ - Self-Portrait at the Age of 34 (1640)
Art UK ↗ · Find a print ↗ - A Slaughtered Ox (1655)
Louvre ↗ · Find a print ↗ - The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis (1661)
Nationalmuseum Sweden ↗ · Find a print ↗
See the work
Prints
Books
Originals
See also
Browse all 2,101 artists · Open in the directory · Where the work hangs: 219 museums on a map