Rembrandt: Turn of the Key

Abstract

There are many mysteries and much contradictory evidence surrounding Rembrandt’s life. Why was Rembrandt, the ninth of ten children, the only one to be enrolled in Latin school? Around age fifteen, why was he then pulled out to apprentice as a painter with Jacob Isaacz van Swanenburg? Why was Swanenburg, whom we would call a second-rate artist, chosen as a teacher? How did Rembrandt, the son of a miller, cross paths with Constantijn Huygens, one of the most erudite people in the Netherlands and a secretary to Stadholder, prince of Orange? How did Rembrandt, a newcomer to Amsterdam and only in his mid-twenties, become one of the most famous and sought-after artists almost overnight? And why did he then have to declare bankruptcy in 1656, dying in near poverty, abandoned by most of his students and prior collectors? Most of these questions have been dealt with by puzzled art historians in one way or another. Each of their hypotheses often contradicts the other—and in some cases, Rembrandt’s history is constructed solely from guesses. The actual evidence of his biography is largely based on two sources, the first of which is a 350-word account by Jan Jansz from 1641, part of his Leiden city guidebook.1 Even this contemporary description of Rembrandt’s career is full of generalities and subjective interpretations. The other famous source of facts about Rembrandt is the exhaustive bankruptcy list of his possessions, which, though it tells us a lot of details about Rembrandt’s private life, is full of gaps when it comes to explaining his work. Titles of Rembrandt paintings were attributed posthumously, with paintings often being revisited on numerous occasions with diametrically opposing theories and subject attributions. Such is the case with