At one time about ninety paintings were considered to be Rembrandt self-portraits, but it is now known that he had his students copy his own self-portraits as part of their training. Modern scholarship has reduced the actual self-portrait count to approximately forty paintings, as well as a few drawings and thirty-one etchings.
Rembrandt lived quite simply and was content to make a meal of a piece of bread and cheese or of a pickled herring.
Rembrandt's first child, a son he named Rumbartus, died just two months after his birth in 1635.
Rembrandt Laughing was one of the artist's earliest self-portraits.
Rembrandt's earliest signatures (ca. 1625) consisted of an initial "R", or the monogram "RH" (for Rembrant Harmenszoon), and starting in 1629, "RHL" (the "L" stood, presumably, for Leiden). In 1632, he used this monogram early in the year, then added his family name to it, "RHL-van Rijn", but replaced this form in that same year and began using his first name alone with its original spelling, "Rembrant". In 1633 he added a "d", and maintained this form consistently from that time forward.
The portrait of Doctor Ephraim Bueno, a Portuguese Jew, is the smallest painting by Rembrandt, being only 8 inches in height.
The Creation of Eve was painted by Michelangelo on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Rembrandt's main source of income was private commissions for portraits. The average price for a painting by Rembrandt was around 340 guilders. By comparison, a skilled craftsman earned around 250 guilders a year.
Aert de Gelder was Rembrandt's last apprentice, studying in his studio from 1661 to 1663. One of Rembrandt's most talented pupils, he was the only Dutch artist to paint in the tradition of Rembrandt's style into the 18th century.
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