Young Rembrandt

"We’re not even certain of Rembrandt’s exact birth date, but he was born around the time Caravaggio died. If you think of Caravaggio’s work, in a way it looks so much more modern than Rembrandt’s, doesn’t it? Because it’s so sensual and so theatrical. What Onno Blom is really asking in this biography is, ‘How did a miller’s son from a provincial Dutch town become the greatest artist of his time?’ It’s just about Rembrandt’s first years. It’s a description of Leiden, this small provincial town steeped in scriptural Protestantism. Then, when Rembrandt gets to Amsterdam, he blooms. Onno Blom says that what was really important—and I think this is very interesting—was the anatomy theater. Leiden had the earliest anatomy theater in the Dutch Republic. There’s obviously Rembrandt’s painting of the anatomy lesson, but there are also crucifixions and the descent from the cross. Apparently, Leiden’s anatomy theatre had a skeleton tableau mort of Adam and Eve . Adam’s skeleton had its hands curled around a spade because Adam is digging and Eve was reaching up to pick the forbidden apple. It’s a wonderfully creepy image isn’t it? Leiden also had a very famous botanical garden, which may have had an influence on his pictures. And it was famous for its bookshops, which had lots of prints, as well as cabinets of curiosities and stuffed crocodiles etc. Blom conjures a very rich world from which this miller’s son pulled everything together into his paintings. Everything is created from suffering including, paradoxically, great happiness and great art. That’s what I think."