Probably the best known amongst the 17th century Dutch painters, Rembrandt was born in Leiden, Holland on July 15 1606. His father was a miller, and his mother came from a family of bakers. The young Rembrandt first studied at the local Latin School, and at the age of 14 he was enrolled at the Leiden University. However, he soon left the University to study art with a local master, Jacob van Swanenburch, and later in Amsterdam with Pieter Lastman. At 25 years of age Rembrandt permanently left Leiden for Amsterdam, where he soon made his name as a portrait painter and as a teacher. As his reputation grew, Rembrandt's Amsterdam studio was full of students. Rembrandt's pupils not only brought him money - they also painted or largely participated in work on many pictures from this period, in many cases so successfully that today it is sometimes quite difficult even for renown Rembrandt scholars to distinguish between the "true Rembrandts" and the paintings from the "school of Rembrandt". Many paintings previously thought to be genuine are now attributed to his pupils, mainly due to the modern research methods. Together with what he made from his students and the sales of his paintings, Rembrandt became quite rich and he quickly became accustomed to leading the high life, with his wife Saskia, the cousin of an art dealer, whom he married in 1634. Saskia's connections probably brought Rembrandt many commissions for portraits and also mythological and religious paintings, from the members of Amsterdam high society. She also stood a model for her husband in many of his early pictures and studies, but she died after only about 8 years of their marriage, in 1642. Out of four children the Rembrandts had, only the youngest, Titus, survived, and was later to play an active part in the family business (together with Rembrandt's mistress Hendrickje Stoffels) when his father, who always tended to live way beyond his means, was forced to declare himself bankrupt in 1656. Titus died in 1668 while still only in his mid twenties. Personal tragedies, problems, lawsuits (one brought on him by another mistress), never stopped Rembrandt from painting, producing etchings and drypoints, drawings and prints, which are now to be found in more than thirty major art galleries and museums as well as in a large number of private collections. Rembrandt died in Amsterdam in 1669, and was buried in an unmarked grave. Recently, a rather surprising discovery was made. According to the Dutch professor of art history Ernst van de Wetering, the Rembrandt painting known for more than three centuries simply as “The Portrait of an Old Man”, in possession of the Medici family from about 1670 and since 1922 owned by the Gallery Uffizi at Florence, is almost certainly the portrait of the Czech philosopher and educator Jan Amos Komensky (Comenius). The painting was recently cleaned and restored. De Wetering’s hypothesis is based on the studies he made in the Dutch Library of Hermetic Sciences, on the likeness of the face on the Rembrandt painting to other portraits of Comenius from the same period, as well as on the fact that at the critical time, around 1661, both men were near neighbours in the same district of Amsterdam. They also shared some acquaintances, such as Mr and Mrs de Geer, who were Comenius’ sponsors and friends, and whom Rembrandt also painted.De Wetering is a professor of Art History at the Amsterdam University and an acknowledged expert on Rembrandt van Rijn. He has been a member of the Rembrandt Research Project since its inception in 1968 and is currently its leader. He also wrote the books Rembrandt: The Painter at Work and Rembrandt's Hidden Self-Portraits, as well as co-authoring several other books on the great Dutch painter's work.
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