Rembrandt House Museum

Last updated

The Rembrandt House Museum
Museum Het Rembrandthuis
Rembrandshuis.jpg
Rembrandt House Museum in 2006
Amsterdam centre map.png
Red pog.svg
Location of the museum in the centre of Amsterdam
Established10 June 1911 (1911-06-10) [1]
Location Jodenbreestraat 4 [2]
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Coordinates 52°22′9.85″N4°54′4.63″E / 52.3694028°N 4.9012861°E / 52.3694028; 4.9012861
Type Biographical museum
Collections Pre-Rembrandtists [3]
Rembrandt's etchings [4]
Visitors237,383 (2014) [5]
DirectorMilou Halbesma
CuratorEpco Runia, David de Witt, Leonore van Sloten, Nathalie Maciesza
Public transit access Waterlooplein/Nieuwmarkt
Tram: 9 Amsterdam tramlijn 9.svg 14 Amsterdam tramlijn 14.svg
Metro: 51 Gvba51.svg 53 Gvba53.svg 54 Gvba54.svg
Website www.rembrandthuis.nl

The Rembrandt House Museum (Dutch : Museum Het Rembrandthuis) is a museum located in a former house in the Jodenbreestraat, in the center of Amsterdam. Between 1639 and 1658, the house was occupied by the Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn, who also had his studio and art dealership there.

Contents

The house was built around 1606 and was renovated around 1627, probably under the supervision of Jacob van Campen. It was then given an extra floor and a new facade with a triangular pediment. Rembrandt bought it on 5 January 1639 for thirteen thousand guilders. After his bankruptcy it was auctioned in 1658 and sold for eleven thousand guilders. In the following centuries it was used as a residence and was renovated several times.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the building was in poor condition, and on the occasion of the Rembrandt Year in 1906, it was purchased in 1907 by the municipality of Amsterdam, which donated it to the Rembrandthuis foundation. Between 1907 and 1911 the house was restored by Karel de Bazel. The museum was opened on 10 June 1911. Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Hendrik were the first visitors. The Rembrandt House Museum owes its foundation to an initiative by the painter Jozef Israëls.

Since 2008, the museum had around 200,000 visitors per year, with a record number of over 280.000 visitors in 2019.

Rembrandt's house

The current museum shows Rembrandt's living and working quarters, including his living room, art room and the studio where he created his masterpieces. The building was redesigned in the 20th century on the basis of the inventory that was drawn up during Rembrandt's bankruptcy in 1656. This gives the visitor an idea of Rembrandt's daily life, his studio practice and what a private house and artist's studio looked like in the 17th century. In Rembrandt's old house there are also works of art from the 17th century, including by Rembrandt's teacher Pieter Lastman and his pupils Ferdinand Bol and Govert Flinck.

Collection

The Rembrandt House Museum owns an almost complete collection of etchings by Rembrandt. These are regularly displayed in the etching cabinet and in temporary exhibitions in the modern museum wing.

In 2019, material-technical research showed that two pots ('grapes') found in 1997 in Rembrandt's cesspool were in fact used by the artist. One of the pots contains remnants of quartz soil. This is a mixture of quartz and clay with which Rembrandt prepared his canvases before painting. Leonore van Sloten, curator of Museum Het Rembrandthuis, said about this in the newspaper Het Parool : [6] "Rembrandt started using so-called quartz soil from the moment he lived in what is now the museum, and as far as we know is the only one who this did. A mixture of quartz and clay was probably convenient for him from a practical and financial point of view." The two pots are on display in the museum.

In 2021, The Rembrandt House Museum received a painting from Mr. and Mrs. Hoogsteder to support the museum during the Covid crisis. The new acquisition is the painting Shepherdess in a Landscape from ca. 1641, made by Ferdinand Bol, one of Rembrandt's most famous pupils. The painting hangs in Rembrandt's former living room and bedroom.

In 2022, the museum purchased four contemporary works of art by Natasja Kensmil and Milan Gies. The museum also owns contemporary art by (amongst others) Marlene Dumas, Reinder Homan, Iriée Zamblé and Timothy Voges.

Exhibitions

YearVisitorsYearVisitors
2008221,888 [7] 2012190,992 [8]
2009182,528 [7] 2013220,263 [9]
2010200,265 [10] 2014237,383 [5]
2011200,450 [10] 2015

The modern museum wing hosts temporary exhibitions throughout the year with works of art by Rembrandt, his contemporaries and his (contemporary) followers. During the national Rembrandt Year in 2019, The Rembrandt House Museum showed three exhibitions: Rembrandt's Social Network, Inspired by Rembrandt and Laboratory Rembrandt. Other high-profile exhibits were Peter Vos: Metamorphosis (2016), Rembrandt's Naked Truth (2016), Glenn Brown (2017), Govert Flinck and Ferdinand Bol (2017-2018), HERE. Black in Rembrandt's time (2020), Hansken, Rembrandt's Elephant (2021) and RAW (2022).

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rijksmuseum</span> National museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands

The Rijksmuseum is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and the Concertgebouw.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerbrand van den Eeckhout</span> Dutch painter (1621–1674)

Gerbrand van den Eeckhout was a Dutch Golden Age painter and a favourite student of Rembrandt. He was also an etcher, an amateur poet, a collector and an adviser on art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Govert Flinck</span> Dutch painter (1615–1660)

GovertTeuniszoon Flinck was a Dutch painter of the Dutch Golden Age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferdinand Bol</span> Dutch painter (1616-1680)

Ferdinand Bol was a Dutch painter, etcher and draftsman. Although his surviving work is rare, it displays Rembrandt's influence; like his master, Bol favored historical subjects, portraits, numerous self-portraits, and single figures in exotic finery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rembrandt</span> Dutch painter and printmaker (1606–1669)

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in the history of art. It is estimated Rembrandt produced a total of about three hundred paintings, three hundred etchings, and two thousand drawings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob Adriaensz Backer</span> Dutch painter

Jacob Adriaensz Backer was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He produced about 140 paintings in twenty years, including portraits, religious subjects, and mythological paintings. In his style, he was influenced by Wybrand de Geest, Rubens and Abraham Bloemaert. He is also noted for his drawings of male and female nudes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hendrick van Uylenburgh</span> Dutch art dealer

Hendrick Gerritszoon van Uylenburgh was an influential Dutch Golden Age art dealer who helped launch the careers of Rembrandt, Govert Flinck, Ferdinand Bol and other painters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zwanenburgwal</span>

The Zwanenburgwal is a canal and street in the center of Amsterdam. During the Dutch Golden Age the canal was home to painter Rembrandt van Rijn, as well as philosopher Spinoza lived here. In 2006 it was voted one of the most beautiful streets in Amsterdam by readers of Het Parool, a local daily newspaper.

<i>The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis</i> Painting by Rembrandt

The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis is an oil painting by the Dutch painter Rembrandt, c. 1661–62, which was originally the largest he ever painted, at about five by five metres in the shape of a lunette. The painting was commissioned by the Amsterdam city council for the Town Hall. After the work had been in place briefly, it was returned to Rembrandt, who may have never been paid. Rembrandt drastically cut down the painting to a quarter of the original size to be sold. It is the last secular history painting he finished.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jürgen Ovens</span> Dutch painter (1623–1678)

Jürgen Ovens, also known as Georg, or Jurriaen Ovens whilst in the Netherlands, was a portrait painter and art-dealer from North Frisia and, according to Arnold Houbraken, a pupil of Rembrandt. He is best known for his painting in the city hall of Amsterdam and paintings for the Dukes of Holstein-Gottorp for whom he worked for more than 30 years, also as an art dealer.

Gerrit van Uylenburgh, or Gerrit Uylenburgh, was a Dutch Golden Age painter and art-dealer. He was the eldest son of Hendrick van Uylenburgh and took over the family art-dealing business after Hendrick's death and burial in the Westerkerk church in 1661. This business, then in a house on Lauriergracht, formerly owned by Govaert Flinck, played a key role in the art world of the Dutch Golden Age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen (1599–1661)</span>

Joan or Johan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen, knighted lord of Maarsseveen, was an important merchant, financial expert, property developer active in Amsterdam and a director of the Dutch East India Company during the Dutch Golden Age. The republican minded Huydecoper was an influential member of the Dutch States Party, diplomat and six times mayor of Amsterdam. He was together with Cornelis de Graeff one of the initiators of the construction of the new town hall of Amsterdam and was a prominent patron of the arts and art collector. Beside Maarsseveen he held the feudal titles of Neerdijk, Thamen and Blockland. Huydecoper is representative of the love of art, political influence and welfare in the Golden Age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agnes Etherington Art Centre</span> Art museum in Ontario, Canada

The Agnes Etherington Art Centre is located in Kingston, Ontario, in the heart of the historic campus of Queen's University. Situated on traditional Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee Territory, the gallery has received a number of awards for its exhibitions from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Association of Art Galleries and others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kloveniersdoelen, Amsterdam</span> Civic guard complex in Amsterdam

The Kloveniersdoelen was a complex of buildings in Amsterdam which served as headquarters and shooting range for the local schutterij. The companies of kloveniers were armed with an early type of musket known as an arquebus, known in Dutch as a bus, haakbus or klover, hence the name kloveniers.

<i>Marcus Curius Dentatus refuses the gifts of the Samnites</i>

Marcus Curius Dentatus refuses the gifts of the Samnites is a 1656 painting by Govert Flinck. It shows the Roman consul Marcus Curius Dentatus, preferring turnips to an offer of gold and silver objects, including the Memorial Guild Cup by Adam van Vianen. It hangs in the same spot for which it was painted, in the former mayors' rooms of the Royal Palace of Amsterdam.

<i>Conus Marmoreus</i> (print)

The Shell, also known as Rembrandt's Shell or Conus Marmoreus, or in Dutch as De schelp or Het schelpje, is a 1650 drypoint and etching by Rembrandt van Rijn. Catalogued as B.159, it is Rembrandt's only still life etching. Only a handful of original prints are known, in three states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lauriergracht</span> Canal in Amsterdam

The Lauriergracht is one of the canals of Amsterdam, located in the Jordaan, west of the Grachtengordel.

<i>Rembrandt Laughing</i> Self-portrait by Rembrandt

Rembrandt Laughing is a c. 1628 oil on copper painting by the Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn. It is an elaborate study of a laughing face, a tronie, and, since it represents the painter himself, one of over 40 self-portraits by Rembrandt, probably the earliest elaborate one. The painting, which was only recently discovered, is now in the J. Paul Getty Museum, California.

References

  1. Collection history, Rembrandt House Museum. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  2. Contact, Rembrandt House Museum. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  3. Paintings, Rembrandt House Museum. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  4. Rembrandt's etchings, Rembrandt House Museum. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  5. 1 2 Jaarverslag 2014 (in Dutch), Rembrandt House Museum. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  6. Keijer, Kees (18 September 2019). "Rembrandthuis: potten uit beerput door Rembrandt gebruikt". Het Parool (in Dutch). Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  7. 1 2 Jaarverslag 2009 (in Dutch), Rembrandt House Museum. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  8. Jaarverslag 2012 (in Dutch), Rembrandt House Museum. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  9. Jaarverslag 2013 (in Dutch), Rembrandt House Museum. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  10. 1 2 Jaarverslag 2011 (in Dutch), Rembrandt House Museum. Retrieved 3 June 2016.