WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.299 Rembrandt, a name that just, it conjures up images 00:00:04.299 --> 00:00:07.620 of golden light, deep shadows, and these incredibly 00:00:07.620 --> 00:00:11.619 raw human faces. Absolutely. But behind that 00:00:11.619 --> 00:00:13.720 mastery of light, there was a life lived almost 00:00:13.720 --> 00:00:16.379 entirely in the shadow of, well, debt and personal 00:00:16.379 --> 00:00:18.500 tragedy. And that's exactly what we're here for. 00:00:18.699 --> 00:00:20.879 Welcome back to The Deep Dive, where we sift 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:22.539 through the sources to give you the context, 00:00:22.600 --> 00:00:25.339 the real story, that turns information into understanding. 00:00:25.769 --> 00:00:28.089 Today we're taking on Rembrandt Harmanzoon van 00:00:28.089 --> 00:00:30.589 Rijn, who is, you could argue, the absolute central 00:00:30.589 --> 00:00:33.990 genius of the Dutch Golden Age. And the sources, 00:00:34.030 --> 00:00:36.729 they really present this phenomenal conflict. 00:00:36.890 --> 00:00:39.390 A conflict, how so? You have an artist who reaches 00:00:39.390 --> 00:00:42.210 these unimaginable peaks of fame and success, 00:00:42.369 --> 00:00:44.630 but he's constantly, and I mean constantly, being 00:00:44.630 --> 00:00:48.170 sabotaged by his own personal chaos and his just 00:00:48.170 --> 00:00:50.929 total financial recklessness. That tension is 00:00:50.929 --> 00:00:53.539 our mission today. We're not just here to admire 00:00:53.539 --> 00:00:54.979 the paintings. We want to try and understand 00:00:54.979 --> 00:00:57.380 the man who made them and the sheer amount of 00:00:57.380 --> 00:01:01.560 work. It's just staggering. It is. Even after 00:01:01.560 --> 00:01:04.200 centuries of scholars debating what's real and 00:01:04.200 --> 00:01:06.400 what's not, we're still looking at an estimated 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:10.019 300 paintings, 300 etchings, and hundreds of 00:01:10.019 --> 00:01:11.680 drawings. That's not a career. It's an eruption. 00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:15.620 It truly was. And what really sets Rembrandt 00:01:15.620 --> 00:01:18.299 apart from, you know, almost all of his contemporaries 00:01:18.299 --> 00:01:20.760 in the Dutch Republic is his ambition. Because 00:01:20.760 --> 00:01:23.280 they were all specialists, right? You painted 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:26.079 ships or you painted flowers. Exactly. The Dutch 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:28.939 art market was all about specialization. But 00:01:28.939 --> 00:01:32.700 Rembrandt, he refused to be put in a box. He 00:01:32.700 --> 00:01:35.170 did it all. He didn't specialize. He just. consumed 00:01:35.170 --> 00:01:37.670 everything he really did he tackled portraits 00:01:37.670 --> 00:01:41.310 self -portraits massive historical and biblical 00:01:41.310 --> 00:01:44.650 scenes mythological subjects landscapes genre 00:01:44.650 --> 00:01:48.010 scenes even animal studies he essentially built 00:01:48.010 --> 00:01:51.170 his own artistic universe and that range is the 00:01:51.170 --> 00:01:53.349 perfect way in isn't it you can look at an early 00:01:53.349 --> 00:01:56.730 portrait and it's so smooth so detailed and then 00:01:56.730 --> 00:01:58.730 you see a late work like the return of the prodigal 00:01:58.730 --> 00:02:01.390 son and the paint is just it's thick it's almost 00:02:01.390 --> 00:02:03.349 like sculpted earth you're watching an artist 00:02:03.349 --> 00:02:06.709 reinvent himself time and time again okay let's 00:02:06.709 --> 00:02:10.990 unpack this let's trace his journey from a miller's 00:02:10.990 --> 00:02:15.710 son to well a self -proclaimed genius our story 00:02:15.710 --> 00:02:18.069 starts in the city of leyden in the dutch republic 00:02:18.069 --> 00:02:23.189 he was born on july 15 1606 and the sources are 00:02:23.189 --> 00:02:25.370 really careful to point out this was not some 00:02:25.370 --> 00:02:28.629 story of rags to riches his family was quite 00:02:28.629 --> 00:02:31.330 well to do his father was a miller his mother 00:02:31.330 --> 00:02:34.300 a baker's daughter solid professions It meant 00:02:34.300 --> 00:02:36.719 they had some stability, and maybe more importantly, 00:02:36.840 --> 00:02:39.000 they could afford an education for him. A good 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:41.319 education. He went to Latin school, and then 00:02:41.319 --> 00:02:43.639 in 1620, he was even enrolled at the University 00:02:43.639 --> 00:02:46.000 of Leiden. Which is a big deal. It suggests his 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:48.180 parents had, you know, academic hopes for him, 00:02:48.199 --> 00:02:50.240 not just a craftsman's life. But Rembrandt had 00:02:50.240 --> 00:02:52.699 other ideas. He pretty quickly decided that his 00:02:52.699 --> 00:02:55.199 true calling was painting, so he left the university. 00:02:55.560 --> 00:02:58.340 He chose the studio over the lecture hall. And 00:02:58.340 --> 00:03:00.500 that desire for technical skill, that's what 00:03:00.500 --> 00:03:02.860 drove his early training. He spent three years 00:03:02.860 --> 00:03:05.099 with a local painter. Jacob van Swannenberg. 00:03:05.300 --> 00:03:07.280 Learning the basics, but the real turning point, 00:03:07.340 --> 00:03:09.379 the thing that really shaped him, was a brief, 00:03:09.439 --> 00:03:12.060 really intensive six -month period in Amsterdam. 00:03:12.439 --> 00:03:15.620 With Peter Lassman. That's the one. In 1625, 00:03:16.020 --> 00:03:18.199 Lassman was a history painter known for these 00:03:18.199 --> 00:03:20.340 big, dramatic, almost theatrical compositions. 00:03:20.840 --> 00:03:23.340 He'd been to Italy, and he brought back that 00:03:23.340 --> 00:03:27.520 high drama, that intense light and shadow you 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:30.300 saw in artists like Caravaggio. So Lassman taught 00:03:30.300 --> 00:03:33.169 him how to tell a story on a grand scale. In 00:03:33.169 --> 00:03:35.750 a way, yes. He taught him how to stage a complex 00:03:35.750 --> 00:03:38.729 narrative, and Rembrandt just absorbed it all. 00:03:38.830 --> 00:03:41.270 He takes that knowledge back to Leiden, and in 00:03:41.270 --> 00:03:44.449 that same year, 1625, he opens his own studio 00:03:44.449 --> 00:03:47.169 with his friend, Jan Lievens. And he's immediately 00:03:47.169 --> 00:03:50.650 successful. By 1627, he's not just working, he's 00:03:50.650 --> 00:03:53.110 taking on students. He's only 21 years old, and 00:03:53.110 --> 00:03:55.169 he's already teaching the next generation, including 00:03:55.169 --> 00:03:57.349 Jared Dew, who would become a famous master himself. 00:03:57.729 --> 00:03:59.840 That speaks to his confidence, doesn't it? But 00:03:59.840 --> 00:04:02.479 his momentum really skyrocketed because of one 00:04:02.479 --> 00:04:05.680 key connection. Constantine Huygens. Constantine 00:04:05.680 --> 00:04:08.120 Huygens, the statesman, the collector, maybe 00:04:08.120 --> 00:04:10.639 the most influential cultural figure in the Netherlands 00:04:10.639 --> 00:04:12.800 at the time. He basically discovered Rembrandt 00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:15.439 and Lievens around 1629. And Huygens wasn't just 00:04:15.439 --> 00:04:17.680 a critic. He was the advisor to the royal court. 00:04:18.060 --> 00:04:20.819 Precisely. So when Huygens championed him, it 00:04:20.819 --> 00:04:23.939 meant commissions. important commissions directly 00:04:23.939 --> 00:04:26.920 from the court of The Hague purchased by Prince 00:04:26.920 --> 00:04:29.360 Frederick Hendrik himself. So before he's even 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:33.019 25, he's basically validated at the highest level 00:04:33.019 --> 00:04:35.480 of Dutch society. He's painting for royalty. 00:04:35.720 --> 00:04:38.120 It's an incredible start, which brings us to 00:04:38.120 --> 00:04:41.319 a fascinating aha moment, something that reveals 00:04:41.319 --> 00:04:44.120 his ambition and it's hidden in plain sight, 00:04:44.259 --> 00:04:46.939 his signature. Okay, let's break it down. His 00:04:46.939 --> 00:04:50.399 full name is Rembrandt Harmanzoon van Rijn. Harmanzoon 00:04:50.399 --> 00:04:53.500 means son of Harman. A patronymic, exactly. And 00:04:53.500 --> 00:04:55.660 von Rhein means from the Rhine, which is just 00:04:55.660 --> 00:04:58.519 geographic. But how he used those names tells 00:04:58.519 --> 00:05:00.839 a story. It really does. If you look at his earliest 00:05:00.839 --> 00:05:04.699 works, he signs with just an R or RH for Rembrandt 00:05:04.699 --> 00:05:07.899 Harmanzoon. Then he adds an LRHL. L for Leiden. 00:05:08.019 --> 00:05:10.399 His hometown. Right. He's documenting his identity, 00:05:10.579 --> 00:05:13.660 his family, his origin. But then around 1632, 00:05:13.939 --> 00:05:17.100 1633, everything changes. He drops the initials 00:05:17.100 --> 00:05:19.120 and he starts signing with just his first name. 00:05:19.639 --> 00:05:21.639 But he changes the spelling. He does. He had 00:05:21.639 --> 00:05:24.680 been signing Rembrandt. Now he adds a D. Rembrandt. 00:05:24.680 --> 00:05:28.079 And that D is silent in Dutch, isn't it? It serves 00:05:28.079 --> 00:05:30.779 no purpose phonetically. None whatsoever. It's 00:05:30.779 --> 00:05:33.319 purely a visual choice. And scholars are pretty 00:05:33.319 --> 00:05:35.560 much united on this. It was a deliberate act 00:05:35.560 --> 00:05:38.000 of self -elevation. It was branding. It's a power 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:40.660 move. He's saying, I don't need my father's name. 00:05:40.759 --> 00:05:44.230 I don't need my city. I am simply... Rembrandt. 00:05:44.230 --> 00:05:46.149 He's putting himself on the same level as the 00:05:46.149 --> 00:05:49.230 great Italian masters of the Renaissance. Raphael, 00:05:49.230 --> 00:05:52.449 Leonardo, Michelangelo. Exactly. They only needed 00:05:52.449 --> 00:05:55.490 one name. It signified a kind of universal, timeless 00:05:55.490 --> 00:05:58.829 genius. And here's this young man from Leiden 00:05:58.829 --> 00:06:01.870 staking that same claim for himself in the Protestant 00:06:01.870 --> 00:06:04.540 North. That is incredibly arrogant. I mean, you 00:06:04.540 --> 00:06:07.100 think about the cautious Calvinist culture of 00:06:07.100 --> 00:06:09.540 Amsterdam at the time. Wasn't that scene is just 00:06:09.540 --> 00:06:12.540 unbelievably pretentious? I'm sure some people 00:06:12.540 --> 00:06:14.399 thought so. But you have to remember, the market 00:06:14.399 --> 00:06:16.420 was following his lead. The commissions were 00:06:16.420 --> 00:06:20.240 flying in. The court was buying his work. Arrogance 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:22.980 gets forgiven when you can back it up. And he 00:06:22.980 --> 00:06:25.920 could. So this self -rebranding is really the 00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:28.990 prelude to his next big move. It is. Leiden was 00:06:28.990 --> 00:06:31.209 great, but the real money, the real center of 00:06:31.209 --> 00:06:33.610 the universe was Amsterdam. And by the end of 00:06:33.610 --> 00:06:37.410 1631, Rembrandt had moved there. And Amsterdam 00:06:37.410 --> 00:06:40.089 in the 1630s is just exploding. It's the engine 00:06:40.089 --> 00:06:42.550 of global trade. Fortunes are being made. And 00:06:42.550 --> 00:06:44.689 he steps right into that world and becomes the 00:06:44.689 --> 00:06:47.759 go -to portrait painter. This is him at the absolute 00:06:47.759 --> 00:06:50.279 peak of his commercial success. And his personal 00:06:50.279 --> 00:06:53.459 life is flourishing, too. In 1634, he marries 00:06:53.459 --> 00:06:55.860 Saskia van Eulenburg. Who was the cousin of his 00:06:55.860 --> 00:06:58.360 art dealer, which was a savvy move. A very savvy 00:06:58.360 --> 00:07:00.800 move. And the Saskia wasn't just anybody. She 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:03.240 came from a very respected, wealthy family. Her 00:07:03.240 --> 00:07:05.680 father had been a burgomaster, a mayor. This 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:08.040 marriage cemented his social standing. That same 00:07:08.040 --> 00:07:10.540 year, he becomes an Amsterdam citizen, joins 00:07:10.540 --> 00:07:13.019 the guild. He's arrived. And with that arrival 00:07:13.019 --> 00:07:16.220 comes a desire for, well, the symbols of success, 00:07:16.459 --> 00:07:19.480 specifically a house. A magnificent house. In 00:07:19.480 --> 00:07:22.379 1639, they move into this grand, newly modernized 00:07:22.379 --> 00:07:25.120 home on the Brest Strat. And this, this is where 00:07:25.120 --> 00:07:27.339 the seeds of his future financial disaster are 00:07:27.339 --> 00:07:29.779 planted. Because it was expensive. Astronomically 00:07:29.779 --> 00:07:33.899 expensive. 13 ,000 guilders. He took out a massive 00:07:33.899 --> 00:07:36.560 mortgage that would basically hang over him for 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:38.860 the rest of his life. It was a complete overreach. 00:07:38.959 --> 00:07:42.579 His ambition. outran his cash flow. What's really 00:07:42.579 --> 00:07:44.360 interesting about that location, though, is that 00:07:44.360 --> 00:07:46.639 the Brest route was rapidly becoming the Jewish 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:49.399 quarter of Amsterdam. Yes. And the sources tell 00:07:49.399 --> 00:07:51.399 us he was a frequent visitor among his new neighbors, 00:07:51.600 --> 00:07:53.920 often seeking models for his Old Testament scenes. 00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:57.139 It shows his commitment to a kind of lived in 00:07:57.139 --> 00:07:59.959 authenticity for his biblical work. But while 00:07:59.959 --> 00:08:02.680 his professional life is soaring, his home life 00:08:02.680 --> 00:08:06.689 becomes. Just brutal. The 1640s were incredibly 00:08:06.689 --> 00:08:09.509 difficult. He and Saskia had four children, but 00:08:09.509 --> 00:08:11.610 three of them died just weeks or months after 00:08:11.610 --> 00:08:14.029 they were born. Rhombardus and then two daughters, 00:08:14.110 --> 00:08:16.949 both named Cornelia. Just an unimaginable cycle 00:08:16.949 --> 00:08:19.970 of hope and loss. Only their fourth child, a 00:08:19.970 --> 00:08:23.089 son named Titus, born in 1641, survived into 00:08:23.089 --> 00:08:25.730 adulthood. And then the final blow. In 1642, 00:08:25.949 --> 00:08:27.689 the very same year he completes his masterpiece, 00:08:27.949 --> 00:08:31.110 The Night Watch, Saskia dies. Probably from tuberculosis. 00:08:31.129 --> 00:08:34.000 The irony is just staggering. The peak of his 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:36.600 public career coincides exactly with his deepest 00:08:36.600 --> 00:08:39.340 personal tragedy. It's heartbreaking. And you 00:08:39.340 --> 00:08:41.779 can see that grief in his art. The drawings he 00:08:41.779 --> 00:08:44.919 made of Saskia on her sickbed, they're so raw, 00:08:45.059 --> 00:08:48.100 so intimate. They are documents of a private 00:08:48.100 --> 00:08:51.000 sorrow. After Saskia's death, his personal life 00:08:51.000 --> 00:08:53.759 gets very volatile. He needs someone to care 00:08:53.759 --> 00:08:55.960 for the infantitis, so he hires a woman named 00:08:55.960 --> 00:08:58.519 Gierchi Dirks as a nurse. And she soon became 00:08:58.519 --> 00:09:00.399 his lover, but the relationship just completely 00:09:00.399 --> 00:09:04.480 fell apart. By 1649, Gyuchi is suing him. For 00:09:04.480 --> 00:09:07.220 what? Breach of promise. She claimed he had promised 00:09:07.220 --> 00:09:10.220 to marry her. And to add insult to injury, she 00:09:10.220 --> 00:09:13.179 pawns a diamond ring he'd given her, a ring that 00:09:13.179 --> 00:09:15.379 had once belonged to Saskia. And this is where 00:09:15.379 --> 00:09:17.700 we see a really dark side of Rembrandt. A very 00:09:17.700 --> 00:09:19.899 dark side. He fights back and he fights dirty. 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:23.120 In 1650, he conspires with Gyuchi's own family 00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:25.340 to have her committed to a women's house of correction, 00:09:25.559 --> 00:09:27.419 basically a workhouse asylum. He'd had her locked 00:09:27.419 --> 00:09:29.919 up. He did. He paid for it. And the records show 00:09:29.919 --> 00:09:31.919 he took legal steps to make sure she stayed there 00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:34.240 for as long as possible. It's ruthless. He was 00:09:34.240 --> 00:09:36.820 protecting his reputation and, crucially, his 00:09:36.820 --> 00:09:39.679 finances. While all this legal drama is happening, 00:09:39.940 --> 00:09:42.779 he's already moved on. He starts a relationship 00:09:42.779 --> 00:09:45.360 with his maid, a younger woman named Hendrick 00:09:45.360 --> 00:09:47.879 J. Stoffels. They have a daughter together, also 00:09:47.879 --> 00:09:50.980 named Cornelia, in 1654. But they could never 00:09:50.980 --> 00:09:54.179 marry. Why not? Money. It always comes back to 00:09:54.179 --> 00:09:57.039 money with Rembrandt. Saskia's will stipulated 00:09:57.039 --> 00:09:59.299 that if he remarried, he would lose his inheritance 00:09:59.299 --> 00:10:01.840 from her trust fund, which was held for their 00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:04.879 son, Titus. So he protected his son's inheritance, 00:10:05.179 --> 00:10:07.480 but he let Hendrick Jay face the consequences. 00:10:07.860 --> 00:10:10.259 He did. The Reformed Church summoned her for 00:10:10.259 --> 00:10:12.899 living in sin, for acts of a whore with Rembrandt 00:10:12.899 --> 00:10:15.299 the painter. She was publicly shamed and banned 00:10:15.299 --> 00:10:17.759 from receiving communion. And all this personal 00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:20.299 chaos is happening just as the financial walls 00:10:20.299 --> 00:10:23.139 are closing in. By the mid -1650s, that huge 00:10:23.139 --> 00:10:25.259 mortgage and his spending habits finally caught 00:10:25.259 --> 00:10:27.220 up with him. He was a compulsive collector. Right. 00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:29.179 It wasn't just the house. He bought art, prints, 00:10:29.460 --> 00:10:32.379 rare books, Roman statues. Yeah. An inventory 00:10:32.379 --> 00:10:35.559 of his collection lists over 360 items. He was 00:10:35.559 --> 00:10:38.039 trying to buy the entire world. And it drained 00:10:38.039 --> 00:10:43.110 him dry. By July 1656, he had no choice. He declared 00:10:43.110 --> 00:10:46.029 insolvency. He went to the high court and surrendered 00:10:46.029 --> 00:10:49.029 all his assets. It's important to note this wasn't 00:10:49.029 --> 00:10:51.529 a forced bankruptcy. It was a legal maneuver 00:10:51.529 --> 00:10:54.309 called sessio bonorum. Right. It was a way to 00:10:54.309 --> 00:10:56.509 protect himself from being thrown into debtor's 00:10:56.509 --> 00:10:59.149 prison. It was a strategic surrender. But the 00:10:59.149 --> 00:11:02.190 consequences were still devastating. His magnificent 00:11:02.190 --> 00:11:05.330 house was sold at auction. His entire beloved 00:11:05.330 --> 00:11:07.850 collection was sold off. He lost everything. 00:11:08.169 --> 00:11:09.990 He and his family had to move to a much more 00:11:09.990 --> 00:11:12.799 modest, rented apartment. working -class neighborhood 00:11:12.799 --> 00:11:15.460 he was stripped bare but here is where you see 00:11:15.460 --> 00:11:19.620 this incredible ingenuity in 1660 once the bankruptcy 00:11:19.620 --> 00:11:22.700 was all settled hendricky and his son titus formed 00:11:22.700 --> 00:11:24.960 a company a dummy corporation a dummy corporation 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:27.220 it was an art dealership and under dutch law 00:11:27.220 --> 00:11:30.000 this company then hired rembrandt as an employee 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:33.500 so he was on salary from his own family Exactly. 00:11:33.500 --> 00:11:35.580 He was provided with board and lodging by the 00:11:35.580 --> 00:11:38.200 business. It was this brilliant legal workaround 00:11:38.200 --> 00:11:41.000 that shielded any new income he generated from 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:43.820 his old creditors. He could keep painting, but 00:11:43.820 --> 00:11:45.919 the money flowed through the corporation where 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:48.519 it couldn't be seized. It's just incredible to 00:11:48.519 --> 00:11:52.190 be able to create art amidst all that. The legal 00:11:52.190 --> 00:11:54.450 battles, the deaths, the public humiliation. 00:11:54.690 --> 00:11:58.049 It's a testament to his focus. It is. And it's 00:11:58.049 --> 00:12:00.830 in this period of supposed ruin that he creates 00:12:00.830 --> 00:12:03.850 some of his most profound and moving works. Okay, 00:12:03.889 --> 00:12:06.389 so let's get to the art itself. How did he do 00:12:06.389 --> 00:12:08.570 it? What was his philosophy? We actually have 00:12:08.570 --> 00:12:11.889 a clue from a letter he wrote to that same Constantine 00:12:11.889 --> 00:12:14.590 Huygens. It's one of the only times he ever wrote 00:12:14.590 --> 00:12:16.950 down his artistic goal. He said he was striving 00:12:16.950 --> 00:12:19.830 for the greatest and most natural movement. Which 00:12:19.830 --> 00:12:23.429 in Dutch is the meeste en de natuurlijkste bevegelijkheid. 00:12:23.529 --> 00:12:26.210 And that word bevegelijkheid, that's the key. 00:12:26.370 --> 00:12:28.710 It doesn't just mean physical movement. It's 00:12:28.710 --> 00:12:31.330 interpreted as emotion or even the psychological 00:12:31.330 --> 00:12:33.929 motive behind an action. So he wasn't interested 00:12:33.929 --> 00:12:35.710 in just painting what something looked like. 00:12:35.730 --> 00:12:37.889 He wanted to paint what it felt like. Precisely. 00:12:37.889 --> 00:12:40.639 He was after the soul of the subject. And his 00:12:40.639 --> 00:12:43.700 main tool for that was light, that dramatic contrast 00:12:43.700 --> 00:12:46.759 of light and shadow, chiaroscuro. He gets that 00:12:46.759 --> 00:12:49.399 from the Italians, like Caravaggio. But he makes 00:12:49.399 --> 00:12:52.600 it his own. He uses it to explore the human spirit. 00:12:52.779 --> 00:12:56.500 And his presentations are always so alive. He 00:12:56.500 --> 00:13:00.120 hated that rigid, formal style you see in so 00:13:00.120 --> 00:13:03.039 many Dutch group portraits. He wanted movement. 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:06.320 drama, and a real sense of compassion for people. 00:13:06.500 --> 00:13:08.899 He even used his own family as models for these 00:13:08.899 --> 00:13:12.039 grand stories. Saskia, Titus, Hendrik V, they 00:13:12.039 --> 00:13:14.379 all appear in his biblical and mythological paintings. 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:17.539 He grounds these universal tales in his own intimate 00:13:17.539 --> 00:13:19.580 world. It's probably helpful for listeners if 00:13:19.580 --> 00:13:22.139 we break down his painting style into, say, three 00:13:22.139 --> 00:13:24.120 big phases. That's a great way to look at it. 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:27.259 So phase one is his early smooth manner when 00:13:27.259 --> 00:13:29.539 he's enlightened. This is the very fine detailed 00:13:29.539 --> 00:13:32.100 work. Manticulous. He's using fine brushes, creating 00:13:32.100 --> 00:13:34.149 these incredibly... illusionistic surfaces. He's 00:13:34.149 --> 00:13:36.190 showing off his technical skill, painting every 00:13:36.190 --> 00:13:38.210 little detail in the lace and the jewelry. It's 00:13:38.210 --> 00:13:41.629 almost photographic. Then phase two, the Amsterdam 00:13:41.629 --> 00:13:44.509 Baroque of the 1630s. This is when he's at his 00:13:44.509 --> 00:13:47.509 most successful and you could say his most theatrical. 00:13:48.090 --> 00:13:50.330 He's competing with international superstars 00:13:50.330 --> 00:13:53.529 like Rubens. So he's painting these huge, high 00:13:53.529 --> 00:13:56.429 contrast, dramatic scenes like the blinding of 00:13:56.429 --> 00:13:59.789 Samson, big, bold and full of action. And then 00:13:59.789 --> 00:14:04.200 phase three. the late rough manner from the 1650s 00:14:04.200 --> 00:14:05.820 onwards. This happens right around the time of 00:14:05.820 --> 00:14:07.639 his financial collapse. And it's a radical change. 00:14:07.860 --> 00:14:11.000 He completely abandons that fine, detailed style 00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:13.620 that was so fashionable. His colors get richer, 00:14:13.700 --> 00:14:17.399 deeper, and his brush strokes become thick. pronounced. 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:20.600 He's applying paint in these heavy layers, what 00:14:20.600 --> 00:14:23.179 we call impasto. It looks almost like he's sculpting 00:14:23.179 --> 00:14:26.039 with paint. He is. The sources say he might have 00:14:26.039 --> 00:14:27.840 been looking at the late work of the Venetian 00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:30.019 painter Titian, who also used a looser brush, 00:14:30.200 --> 00:14:32.539 but Rembrandt takes it to another level. He's 00:14:32.539 --> 00:14:34.399 using the visible texture of the paint to create 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:37.320 the illusion of form and space. The paint literally 00:14:37.320 --> 00:14:39.200 catches the light. But you have to wonder, this 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:41.259 style was completely out of fashion at the time, 00:14:41.299 --> 00:14:43.120 wasn't it? Weren't his clients looking for that 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:45.799 smooth, polished finish? They absolutely were. 00:14:46.539 --> 00:14:49.100 Contemporary critics called his late style coarse. 00:14:50.100 --> 00:14:52.080 There's an anecdote that he had to tell visitors 00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:54.980 not to stand too close to his paintings because 00:14:54.980 --> 00:14:57.500 the magic only worked from a distance. So he 00:14:57.500 --> 00:14:59.879 was choosing his own artistic path over what 00:14:59.879 --> 00:15:02.039 the market wanted. Which is why that dummy corporation 00:15:02.039 --> 00:15:05.100 was so brilliant. It gave him the freedom to 00:15:05.100 --> 00:15:07.519 paint exactly how he wanted without having to 00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:10.179 please a client. Let's talk about the self -portraits. 00:15:10.519 --> 00:15:13.220 Because if there's one constant through all these 00:15:13.220 --> 00:15:16.409 phases, it's him looking at himself. It's a visual 00:15:16.409 --> 00:15:18.250 autobiography, isn't it? Yeah. There are over 00:15:18.250 --> 00:15:20.870 40 of them. We see him as a cocky young man, 00:15:20.990 --> 00:15:23.230 then a successful master, all the way to this 00:15:23.230 --> 00:15:25.649 weathered, incredibly profound old man at the 00:15:25.649 --> 00:15:27.250 end of his life. And there's a compositional 00:15:27.250 --> 00:15:29.450 trick he uses again and again. Watch for it when 00:15:29.450 --> 00:15:31.870 you look at them. He often angles his face so 00:15:31.870 --> 00:15:33.789 that the ridge of his nose becomes the dividing 00:15:33.789 --> 00:15:36.289 line. The dividing line between light and shadow. 00:15:36.529 --> 00:15:39.049 Exactly. One side of the face is brilliantly 00:15:39.049 --> 00:15:42.289 lit. The other is in deep shadow. He forces your 00:15:42.289 --> 00:15:45.169 eye to that exact point where clarity meets mystery. 00:15:45.490 --> 00:15:47.690 It's a way of engineering the light to create 00:15:47.690 --> 00:15:50.470 psychological depth. Okay, we can't talk about 00:15:50.470 --> 00:15:52.009 Rembrandt without talking about the Night Watch. 00:15:52.210 --> 00:15:54.590 It's probably his most famous painting, commissioned 00:15:54.590 --> 00:15:57.789 in the early 1640s for a civic militia group. 00:15:57.990 --> 00:16:00.269 And it was a complete departure from tradition. 00:16:00.330 --> 00:16:03.070 The standard for these militia portraits was... 00:16:03.500 --> 00:16:05.860 Well, it was boring. A bunch of guys lined up 00:16:05.860 --> 00:16:08.559 in a row, all equally lit. It was a status symbol. 00:16:08.740 --> 00:16:11.399 And Rembrandt just blew that up. Instead of a 00:16:11.399 --> 00:16:13.500 static lineup, he gives them an action scene. 00:16:13.740 --> 00:16:16.740 The captain is giving the order to march. A musket 00:16:16.740 --> 00:16:20.799 is being fired. It's chaotic and alive. He's 00:16:20.799 --> 00:16:23.340 blending group portraiture with history painting, 00:16:23.559 --> 00:16:25.600 which was considered the highest genre of art. 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:27.980 It's incredibly ambitious. We should probably 00:16:27.980 --> 00:16:29.840 correct a common misconception, though. It's 00:16:29.840 --> 00:16:32.200 not actually set at night. No, it's not. The 00:16:32.200 --> 00:16:34.480 name The Night Watch was given to it much, much 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:38.259 later. The dark, gloomy look is just the result 00:16:38.259 --> 00:16:41.519 of centuries of dirt and old, yellowed varnish. 00:16:41.639 --> 00:16:44.120 It's actually a daytime scene. And it used to 00:16:44.120 --> 00:16:46.879 be even bigger, right? Yeah, much bigger. It 00:16:46.879 --> 00:16:49.299 was trimmed down on all sides in the 18th century 00:16:49.299 --> 00:16:51.779 to fit between two doors in the Amsterdam town 00:16:51.779 --> 00:16:54.759 hall. So the composition we see today is actually 00:16:54.759 --> 00:16:57.159 a bit off balance from what he originally intended. 00:16:57.440 --> 00:16:59.559 His genius wasn't just limited to paint, though. 00:16:59.639 --> 00:17:01.779 He was just as revolutionary as a printmaker. 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:05.220 An absolute master of etching. He made prints 00:17:05.220 --> 00:17:07.819 for most of his career, right up until his bankruptcy 00:17:07.819 --> 00:17:10.200 when he had to sell his printing press. And he 00:17:10.200 --> 00:17:12.740 was a true innovator. He wasn't just etching. 00:17:12.859 --> 00:17:15.660 He was using other tools, like the burin and 00:17:15.660 --> 00:17:18.220 drypoint, to get different effects. He was experimenting 00:17:18.220 --> 00:17:21.910 constantly. With the paper he used, he loved 00:17:21.910 --> 00:17:25.529 this expensive, warm -toned Japanese paper. And 00:17:25.529 --> 00:17:28.109 with the ink itself. He developed a technique 00:17:28.109 --> 00:17:30.769 called surface tone. What's that? Instead of 00:17:30.769 --> 00:17:33.069 wiping the copper plate perfectly clean before 00:17:33.069 --> 00:17:35.750 printing, he would leave a very thin atmospheric 00:17:35.750 --> 00:17:39.450 film of ink on the surface. It gives the final 00:17:39.450 --> 00:17:42.650 print this incredible richness and moody depth. 00:17:42.890 --> 00:17:44.849 It's like the printmaking equivalent of his shadowy 00:17:44.849 --> 00:17:46.630 paintings. Yeah, that's a perfect way to put 00:17:46.630 --> 00:17:48.670 it. And you see him evolving. His late prints, 00:17:48.829 --> 00:17:51.369 like the three crosses, are just astounding. 00:17:51.849 --> 00:17:54.630 He would rework the copper plate over and over 00:17:54.630 --> 00:17:56.980 again, creating different states. the same image 00:17:56.980 --> 00:17:59.779 in the final version of the three crosses he 00:17:59.779 --> 00:18:03.099 plunges the entire scene into this dramatic almost 00:18:03.099 --> 00:18:05.539 apocalyptic darkness he just couldn't leave well 00:18:05.539 --> 00:18:07.400 enough alone he always had to push it further 00:18:07.400 --> 00:18:10.460 and this brings us back to his collecting there's 00:18:10.460 --> 00:18:12.900 a fascinating cross -cultural influence in his 00:18:12.900 --> 00:18:15.720 later work the asian connection he's interested 00:18:15.720 --> 00:18:18.799 in mogul miniatures from india deeply interested. 00:18:19.079 --> 00:18:22.220 We have around 23 drawings that he made, copying 00:18:22.220 --> 00:18:24.619 these miniatures, studying the costumes, the 00:18:24.619 --> 00:18:27.400 figures like Shah Jahan. And you can see that 00:18:27.400 --> 00:18:29.640 influence creeping into the exotic dress and 00:18:29.640 --> 00:18:32.359 details of his later biblical paintings. His 00:18:32.359 --> 00:18:35.339 visual world was truly global. So you have this 00:18:35.339 --> 00:18:37.420 artist who is just a sponge. He's taking from 00:18:37.420 --> 00:18:40.460 Italian drama, northern realism, Japanese paper, 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:43.279 indie miniatures, and forging it all into something 00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:45.720 completely his own. And that complexity, that 00:18:45.720 --> 00:18:48.759 constant experimentation, is what makes studying 00:18:48.759 --> 00:18:51.599 him today so challenging. This leads us into 00:18:51.599 --> 00:18:53.759 the modern scholarship and the science of art. 00:18:53.980 --> 00:18:55.660 Right, because with an artist who had such a 00:18:55.660 --> 00:18:58.119 large workshop, how do you know what's really 00:18:58.119 --> 00:19:01.099 by him and what's by a student? It's a huge problem, 00:19:01.240 --> 00:19:03.279 and it's a problem he created. He encouraged 00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:05.420 his students to copy his work. That's how they 00:19:05.420 --> 00:19:08.019 learned. And sometimes he would touch up a student's 00:19:08.019 --> 00:19:10.160 painting and sell it as his own. So you have 00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:13.259 a mix of originals, authorized copies, and just... 00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:16.000 Very talented followers who mastered his style. 00:19:16.160 --> 00:19:19.599 It created a mess, which is why in 1968, a group 00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:22.339 of scholars started the Rembrandt Research Project, 00:19:22.539 --> 00:19:26.259 or RRP. Their mission was to use modern science 00:19:26.259 --> 00:19:29.099 x -rays, pigment analysis, infrared imaging to 00:19:29.099 --> 00:19:30.859 try and sort it all out. And their findings. 00:19:31.200 --> 00:19:33.400 They sent shockwaves through the art world. They 00:19:33.400 --> 00:19:35.980 did. The number of paintings accepted as authentic 00:19:35.980 --> 00:19:38.319 Rembrandts was basically cut in half. It went 00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:41.460 from over 600 down to around 300. Museums all 00:19:41.460 --> 00:19:43.559 over the world had to relabel their prized possessions. 00:19:43.980 --> 00:19:46.160 And it created these fascinating controversies. 00:19:46.420 --> 00:19:49.039 Like the Polish writer in the Frick collection. 00:19:49.279 --> 00:19:52.519 A masterpiece. For centuries, everyone agreed 00:19:52.519 --> 00:19:55.220 it was Rembrandt. Then the RRP came along and 00:19:55.220 --> 00:19:57.299 suggested it might be by one of his students, 00:19:57.480 --> 00:19:59.940 Willem Drost. But the Frick didn't change the 00:19:59.940 --> 00:20:02.569 label. They didn't. And since then, the scholarly 00:20:02.569 --> 00:20:05.829 consensus has actually swung back, and most experts 00:20:05.829 --> 00:20:09.210 now believe it is by Rembrandt after all. It 00:20:09.210 --> 00:20:11.069 just shows you that even with all the science, 00:20:11.230 --> 00:20:14.009 there's still room for debate. It's not a settled 00:20:14.009 --> 00:20:17.210 science. Unlike something like the man with the 00:20:17.210 --> 00:20:18.970 golden helmet. That was once one of his most 00:20:18.970 --> 00:20:21.410 famous portraits. And now it's almost universally 00:20:21.410 --> 00:20:24.269 accepted as being by a very talented follower, 00:20:24.390 --> 00:20:27.410 not the master himself. So the process works, 00:20:27.569 --> 00:20:29.950 but it's always evolving. New discoveries are 00:20:29.950 --> 00:20:32.349 still being made. Let's finish up with where 00:20:32.349 --> 00:20:35.430 you can see his work today. Because for the quintessential 00:20:35.430 --> 00:20:38.650 Dutch master, his art is surprisingly spread 00:20:38.650 --> 00:20:40.890 out. It really is. And you might be surprised 00:20:40.890 --> 00:20:42.549 to learn which country holds the most of his 00:20:42.549 --> 00:20:44.990 paintings. It's not the Netherlands. It's not. 00:20:45.069 --> 00:20:48.619 It's the United States. There are 86 authenticated 00:20:48.619 --> 00:20:51.299 Rembrandt paintings in the U .S. thanks to the 00:20:51.299 --> 00:20:54.160 huge collecting boom by American industrialists 00:20:54.160 --> 00:20:56.380 in the Gilded Age. Followed by Germany, the U 00:20:56.380 --> 00:20:58.440 .K., and then his homeland, the Netherlands. 00:20:58.779 --> 00:21:01.119 Right. But while the paintings are scattered, 00:21:01.279 --> 00:21:03.740 his graphic works, the prints and drawings are 00:21:03.740 --> 00:21:06.119 much more concentrated. The big collections are 00:21:06.119 --> 00:21:08.259 in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the British 00:21:08.259 --> 00:21:11.039 Museum, and the Louvre. And here's one last incredible 00:21:11.039 --> 00:21:15.220 detail. As of the 1980s, 79 of his original copper 00:21:15.220 --> 00:21:17.720 etching plates still existed. People were still 00:21:17.720 --> 00:21:19.940 pulling prints from them in the 19th century. 00:21:20.099 --> 00:21:22.740 It just speaks to the enduring power and value 00:21:22.740 --> 00:21:25.559 of his physical legacy long after the man himself 00:21:25.559 --> 00:21:28.380 was gone, buried in an unmarked, rented grave. 00:21:28.660 --> 00:21:31.480 So he started this deep dive with that central 00:21:31.480 --> 00:21:34.809 conflict in Rembrandt's life. The unparalleled 00:21:34.809 --> 00:21:38.150 artistic genius living side by side with this 00:21:38.150 --> 00:21:40.690 chaotic reality of personal tragedy and financial 00:21:40.690 --> 00:21:42.809 ruin. And yet it's out of that chaos that his 00:21:42.809 --> 00:21:45.309 greatest work emerges. His final self -portraits, 00:21:45.430 --> 00:21:47.769 like the one he painted in 1669, the year he 00:21:47.769 --> 00:21:50.470 died. They're just masterpieces of psychological 00:21:50.470 --> 00:21:52.849 honesty. You're looking at a man who has been 00:21:52.849 --> 00:21:54.529 through it all. So here's the final thought for 00:21:54.529 --> 00:21:56.730 you to consider. We know his life fell apart 00:21:56.730 --> 00:22:00.789 in the 1640s and 50s. And we know that's when 00:22:00.789 --> 00:22:03.069 his style shifted to that rough textured manner. 00:22:03.480 --> 00:22:05.460 So the question is, was that stylistic change 00:22:05.460 --> 00:22:07.940 just an artistic choice? Was he just deciding 00:22:07.940 --> 00:22:10.039 to follow the path of an artist like Titian? 00:22:10.180 --> 00:22:13.099 Or was it something more? Is that thick, layered, 00:22:13.220 --> 00:22:15.220 almost wounded texture of the paint a direct 00:22:15.220 --> 00:22:17.859 reflection of his own weathered, burdened, but 00:22:17.859 --> 00:22:20.519 ultimately triumphant spirit? Is the physical 00:22:20.519 --> 00:22:22.519 texture of his late work inseparable from the 00:22:22.519 --> 00:22:25.000 emotional texture of his final years? The years 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:27.339 he spent with nothing left but his genius, signing 00:22:27.339 --> 00:22:29.220 his name simply Rembrandt.