DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.69463#0311
REMBRANDT.
This is one of the most extraordinary painters of the
Flemish school. He was born on the 15th of June, 1606,
between the villages of Leyerdorp and Koukerch, near
the city of Leyden. His father, Herman Gerretsz van
Ryn, was a miller, and rented a mill on the border of the
Rhyne, by which he acquired the surname of Van Ryn,
though his family name was Gerretsz. The miller had
the sagacity to perceive in his son a more than ordinary
genius, and determined that he should be a scholar, ra-
ther than follow his own profession.
But, notwithstanding this apparent vivacity, Rem-
brandt could scarcely be taught to read. He was more
taken up with the study of design, than of the sciences,
which induced his father, who attentively watched all his
motions, to place him under Van Zwanenburg, a painter
of Amsterdam. He soon discovered an inventive genius,
and a facility of execution, which astonished his master.
At the end of three years he had mastered every secret of
his art, and made those discoveries which procured him
the character of originality that always distinguished
him. Lastman, Pinas, and Schoolin, were, afterwards,
successively his masters : he then returned to his father’s,
and, for a long time, would have no other painting room
than the mill. The space he reserved to himself, he in-
closed on all sides, with the exception of a single aper-
ture, from which he received a partial light, and which di-
recting its rays on only one part of his pictures, procured
him all the magic of the chiaro-scuro. There, retired
from the world, he supposed he should remain in peace
42
This is one of the most extraordinary painters of the
Flemish school. He was born on the 15th of June, 1606,
between the villages of Leyerdorp and Koukerch, near
the city of Leyden. His father, Herman Gerretsz van
Ryn, was a miller, and rented a mill on the border of the
Rhyne, by which he acquired the surname of Van Ryn,
though his family name was Gerretsz. The miller had
the sagacity to perceive in his son a more than ordinary
genius, and determined that he should be a scholar, ra-
ther than follow his own profession.
But, notwithstanding this apparent vivacity, Rem-
brandt could scarcely be taught to read. He was more
taken up with the study of design, than of the sciences,
which induced his father, who attentively watched all his
motions, to place him under Van Zwanenburg, a painter
of Amsterdam. He soon discovered an inventive genius,
and a facility of execution, which astonished his master.
At the end of three years he had mastered every secret of
his art, and made those discoveries which procured him
the character of originality that always distinguished
him. Lastman, Pinas, and Schoolin, were, afterwards,
successively his masters : he then returned to his father’s,
and, for a long time, would have no other painting room
than the mill. The space he reserved to himself, he in-
closed on all sides, with the exception of a single aper-
ture, from which he received a partial light, and which di-
recting its rays on only one part of his pictures, procured
him all the magic of the chiaro-scuro. There, retired
from the world, he supposed he should remain in peace
42