Rediscovering Rembrandt: How the British rescued the master

When Rembrandt van Rijn died, aged 63, lonely, bankrupt and neglected, there was little sign that he’d become such a central figure in the history of European art. His early fame had faded. His work no longer commanded high prices. Unable to pay his bills, he’d been evicted from his home and studio.

Yet today he’s universally revered. What happened? Well, since his death, in 1669, his reputation has grown and grown, and the nation where this revival started wasn’t his native Netherlands but Great Britain.

Rembrandt – Britain’s Discovery of The Master at the Scottish National Gallery tells the story of this renaissance. It begins with one of his acute self-portraits – his first work to leave the Netherlands when it was given to Charles I in 1633. It ends with gutsy works by Frank Auerbach and Leon Kossoff, two of the many British artists he’s inspired.

What drove this reappraisal? As usual, a big factor was money. Rembrandt’s career coincided with Holland’s Golden Age, an era of commercial prowess. Yet in the 18th Century Dutch fortunes dwindled while the British economy took off. Now Dutch paintings were cheap and British toffs had cash to burn. Built by Robert Adam, their new mansions had lots of wall space. A Rembrandt above the fireplace was a sign of wealth and taste.

There was a bit more to it than that, of course. If Rembrandt had been just a fad, his appeal would have worn off pretty swiftly. It was his revolutionary vision which ensured his legend would last. Incredibly for an artist who died during the reign of Charles II, Rembrandt didn’t anticipate the mannerism of the 1700s so much as the romanticism of the 1800s. It was 19th Century artists like Turner and Constable who really took him to their hearts.

Where did this vision stem from? Well, Rembrandt was a genius, and genius is unique but it needs the right conditions in which to flourish. To understand the world he painted you have to travel to the land he lived in. In Holland, Rembrandt van Rijn is still very much alive.

The best place to begin your Rembrandt odyssey is in Leiden, where he was born in 1606, the third son of a local miller. Luckily for Rembrandt, his family had enough money to give him a good education at the local Latin School, but as they weren’t gentry they were perfectly happy for him to become a painter – a practical trade back then, rather than an idealistic calling.

However the most remarkable thing about Rembrandt is his overwhelming empathy. He paints every human blemish, but his psychological insight is matched by his compassion. His portraits of his wife Saskia and his son Titus are full of sympathy, and that’s what makes them sing.

The endpoint of your pilgrimage should be the Rembrandthuis, also in Amsterdam. Rembrandt bought this grand townhouse in 1639 for 13,000 guilders – a huge sum in an age when a skilled workman only earned a few hundred guilders a year. He had to take out a mortgage, and although he subsequently earned enough money to pay it off, he spent it on other things. He built up a superb art collection, and bought all sorts of expensive curios – some as props for his paintings, others just for show.

When Rembrandt was making decent money this wasn’t such a problem, but in 1642 Saskia died, aged just 29. Their son Titus was still a baby. Plunged into a deep depression, his art became darker and more introspective. This period produced some of his finest work, but financially it was a disaster. Other artists loved it, but his wealthy patrons went elsewhere.

Rembrandt’s problems were compounded by his messy love life. He hired a nanny called Geertje Dircx to care for Titus. They became lovers but then Rembrandt left her for his housekeeper, a younger woman called Hendrickje Stoffels.

Geertje sued for breach of promise, Rembrandt counter sued. Geertje said he’d vowed to marry her, Rembrandt said she’d taken Saskia’s jewellery. Geertje said he’d given it to her. Eventually, he had Geertje committed to a ‘house of correction’ (somewhere between a prison, a workhouse and an insane asylum) where she languished for many years.

Rembrandt loved Hendrickje – she inspired some of his greatest paintings – but he never married her. Saskia had been a wealthy woman and she’d left Rembrandt a lot of money, but under the terms of her will he knew he’d lose this money if he ever remarried. When Hendrickje bore his daughter, she was called a whore and refused communion. As an artist, Rembrandt was famed for his sensitivity. As a man, he could be cruel.

Rembrandt went bankrupt in 1656 and was forced to sell this house and all its contents. For Rembrandt this was a catastrophe, but for the Rembrandthuis it’s been a blessing. The auditors compiled a comprehensive inventory of his assets, and the curators have used this inventory to reassemble the interior. Every room has been meticulously recreated. It’s like stepping into one of his paintings. It’s like stepping back in time.

The last decade of Rembrandt’s life was a sombre epilogue. He moved into a rented room in a poorer part of town. Hendrickje and Titus both predeceased him but he never stopped painting, and his last paintings are among his best. Go to Edinburgh this summer to see how Britain kept his genius alive. And then travel on to Holland, to see where it evolved.

Rembrandt – Britain’s Discovery of the Master is at the Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh from 7 July - 4 November 2018.