REMBRANDT : ECCE HOMO

Rembrandt Harmenszon van Rijn, born 15 July 1606 in Leiden, was the youngest son of at least ten children, he left the University to study the fundamentals of painting with the Leiden artist Jacob Isaacsz. van Swanenburgh (1571-1638).

Rembrandt was enthusiastically praised by the secretary to the Prince of Orange, Constantijn Huygens (1596-1674) who admired particularly his ability to convey feeling through gesture and expression.

In 1663 a plague that ravaged Amsterdam claimed the life of his lifetime companion Hendrickje Stoffels . Four years later his son Titus married Madgalena van Loo (1642-1669), but the following year, in 1668, he also died, the victim of another plague epidemic. When Rembrandt died on 4 October 1669, he was buried in an unknown rented grave in the Westerkerk, Amsterdam.

The Latin title 'Ecce Homo' is taken from the Bible, and means 'Behold the man!' These words were said by Pontius Pilate during the trial of Jesus. Pilate presents Christ to the people, who, urged on by their priests, demand his execution, insisting that they have no king but Caesar. This monochrome work is called a grisaille, it is the preparatory study (1634) for an etching made by Rembrandt in 1635.

In 1972 Ecce Homo went for 32,000 Gns ($80,604) on auction. It is now the property of the National Gallery London.

REMBRANDT : PORTRAIT OF AN OLD MAN

Rembrandt Harmenszon van Rijn, born 15 July 1606 in Leiden, was the son of a miller, Harmen Gerritsz. van Rijn (1568-1630), and his wife Neeltgen van Zuytbrouck (1568-1640). The youngest son of at least ten children, he left the University to study the fundamentals of painting with the Leiden artist Jacob Isaacsz. van Swanenburgh (1571-1638).

Rembrandt was enthusiastically praised by the secretary to the Prince of Orange, Constantijn Huygens (1596-1674) who admired particularly Rembrandt's ability to convey feeling through gesture and expression.
But in 1660 almost ruined Rembrandt had to turn himself into an art dealer to survive.

In 1663 a plague that ravaged Amsterdam claimed the life of his lifetime companion Hendrickje Stoffels . Four years later Titus married Madgalena van Loo (1642-1669), but the following year, in 1668, he also died, the victim of another plague epidemic. When Rembrandt died on 4 October 1669, he was buried in an unknown rented grave in the Westerkerk, Amsterdam.

This portrait of an old man was painted in 1651 and belonged to the collection of the Duke of Devonshire in his Chatsworth House in the Derbyshire (England). In 1969 it was auctioned off for 300,000 Gns ($ 756,000) to art dealer Edward Speelman of 175 Piccadilly, London.

A not very good self-portrait by Rembrandt appraised for $ 20/30,000 sold for $ 103,000 in April 2008. After his death Rembrandt came to oblivion. His painting of the Night Watch was refused by every art dealer and eventually was accepted by a gymnasium at the condition that a small portion of it at the top be trimmed to fit the height of the walls of the gymnasium.

REMBRANDT : TITUS

The boy in the painting has often been identified as Rembrandt van Rijn's son, Titus, because his face is rendered in sensitive, intimate detail, as if depicting a beloved family member. A mysterious animal, perhaps a pet, sits on the boy's shoulder. Some experts identify it as a parrot, others, a monkey.

Rembrandt Harmenszon van Rijn, born 15 July 1606 in Leiden, was the son of a miller, Harmen Gerritsz. van Rijn (1568-1630), and his wife Neeltgen van Zuytbrouck (1568-1640). The youngest son of at least ten children, he left the University to study the fundamentals of painting with the Leiden artist Jacob Isaacsz. van Swanenburgh (1571-1638). Rembrandt was enthusiastically praised by the secretary to the Prince of Orange, Constantijn Huygens (1596-1674) who admired particularly Rembrandt's ability to convey feeling through gesture and expression.

In 1663 a plague that ravaged Amsterdam claimed the life of his lifetime companion Hendrickje Stoffels . Four years later Titus married Madgalena van Loo (1642-1669), but the following year, in 1668, he also died, the victim of another plague epidemic. When Rembrandt died on 4 October 1669, he was buried in an unknown rented grave in the Westerkerk, Amsterdam.

The painting, thought to be of the artist’s son, was last on view at the National Gallery more than 40 years ago. It made a brief stop there before it found its way to California after Norton Simon, the industrialist and collector who died in 1993, bought the Rembrandt at a Christie’s auction in London in 1965. The sale was considered so monumental it made the cover of Time magazine.

Not only was the price considered staggering — $2.2 million- which at the time made it the second most expensive painting ever sold. So was the bidding war that Simon fought to get the painting. When the auctioneer announced that the winning bid had come from Marlborough Fine Arts, Simon sprang to his feet and announced that he hadn’t stopped bidding. It turned out that he had given the auctioneer Peter Chance, head of Christie's, such confusing instructions that Peter Chance misunderstood Simon’s body language, thinking he had finished when he hadn’t. So the bid was reopened, and Simon bought the portrait.

There is a fantastic picture of Mr Norton Simon looking angrily at Peter Chance who had misunderstood their very confusing bidding arrangements.Those arrangements written down on a piece of paper were saying "If I stay sit I bid, if I stand I do not bid." Peter Chance said later that the furore caused by the sale of Titus was "the worst moment" of his life.

REMBRANDT : ARISTOTLE WITH A BUST OF HOMER

In this picture (143.5x136.5 cm.) painted by Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) in 1653, the artist ponders visually the importance in life of material success, fame, and power, compared with being true to art. Rembrandt does so by confronting the greatest Greek philosopher, Aristotle, with the greatest Greek poet, Homer.

The picture that was the property of the advertising millionaire Alfred W. Erickson was sold at the most attended auction of the early 60s at Parke-Bernet in NYC to James R.Morimer, Director of the Metropolitan Museum New York, for the then fabulous sum of $ 2,3 million (1961).
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REMBRANDT : CHRIST PRESENTED TO THE TEMPLE

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669 ), during his lifetime, made more than two hundred prints. By the time of The Presentation in the Temple (1640), Rembrandt had investigated to its limits the process of pure etching and increasingly used the drypoint technique. The Presentation is an example of the many prints that Rembrandt executed from stories in the Bible. At least one-third of his work is devoted to biblical subjects, quite surprising considering the influence of Calvinist theology in the Netherlands.

This etching was sold in 1985 for £ 561,000 ($ 836,784).

REMBRANDT : JUNO

Painted by Rembrandt in 1664-65. Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1609-1669) was a Dutch painter and etcher of Baroque era. He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art history and the most important in Dutch history.

In 1629 Rembrandt was discovered by the statesman and poet Constantijn Huygens who procured for him important commissions from the Court of The Hague.

Rembrandt died soon after the death of his beloved son Titus on October 4, 1669 in Amsterdam and was buried in an unmarked grave in Westerkerk.

Juno was bought in 1960 for then the relatively moderate sum of 50,000 Pounds but in 1976 the Hammer museum in Los Angeles acquired it for the more formidable amount of $ 3 million. The picture is still hanging on the walls of the Hammer Museum where it is probably worth now over 20 million.