Rembrandt

"Quote in original Dutch (citaat van Rembrandt in Nederlands): Dit is naer mijn huijsvrou geconterfeit do si 21 jaer oud was, den derden dach als wij getroudt waeren, den 8 junijus 1633"

"A pious mind / Places honor above wealth - Rembrandt, Amsterdam 1634"

"version in original Dutch (origineel citaat van Rembrandt, in Nederlands): Een vroom gemoet / Acht eer voor goet - Rembrandt, Amsterdam 1634"

"..that I am very diligently engaged in proficiently completing the three Passion paintings which his Excellency has personally commissioned me [to do]: an Entombment a Resurrection, and an Ascension of Christ.. .Of the above three, one has been completed, namely Christ's Ascension to Heaven, and the other two are more than half-finished.. ..as a token of my readiness to serve you with my favor, I cannot refrain from presenting you, [dear Sir, my latest work. I trust that you most graciously will accept it in addition to my greetings.. ..reside [on] Nieuwe Doelstraat [Amsterdam], Feb. 1636"

"version in original Dutch (origineel citaat van Rembrandt, in Nederlands): ..dat ick seer naerstich / doende ben met die drie passij stucken voorts / met bequameheijt aftemaeken die sijn excellencij / my selfs heeft geordijneert, een grafleg[ing] ende een Verrijsenis en een Hemelvaert / Chrisstij. / De selvijge ackoordeeren met / opdoening en afdoeningen vant Chruijs Chrisstij. / Van welken drie voornomden / stuckens een van opgemaekt is daer / Chrisstus ten Heemel opvaert ende / die ander twee [schilderijen] ruym half gedaen sijn.. ..En ken oock niet naerlaeten volgens mijn dienstwillijgen / gunst mijn heer te vereeren van mijn jonsten / werck vertrouwenden dat mij ten bessten sal / afgenoomen werder neffens mijne groeteenissen.. ..[wonend] niuwe doelstraet [Amsterdam], Feb. 1636"

"My [dear] Sir: Let me first offer my kind regards. I agree that I should come soon to see how the picture accords with the rest. As regards the price, I certainly deserve 200 pounds for it, but shall be content with whatever His Excellency pays me. And if you, Sir, do not deem it presumptuous, I shall not neglect to requite the favor. Your humble and devoted servant Rembrandt - It [the picture] will show to [the] best advantage in His Excellency's gallery, since there it will be [displayed] in bright light."

"Because of the great zeal and devotion which I experienced in executing well the two pictures which His Highness commissioned me to make - the one being Christ's dead body being laid in the tomb [ 'The Entombment of Christ' ], and the other Christ arising from the dead to the consternation of the guards — these same two pictures are now finished through studious application, so that I am now disposed to deliver the same and so to afford to His Highness. For in these two paintings the greatest and most natural movement has been expressed [and rendered], which is also the main reason why they have taken so long to execute."

"version in original Dutch (origineel citaat van Rembrandt, in Nederlands): Door die grooten lust ende geneegenheijt die ick gepleecght hebbe int wel wtvoeren van die twe/ stuckens die sijn Hoocheijt mijn heeft doen maeken weesende het een daer dat doode lichaem Chrisstij/ in den graeve gelecht werd ende dat ander/ daer Chrisstus van den doode opstaet dat met/ grooten verschrickinge des wachters. Dees selvij/ twe stuckens sijn door stuijdiose vlijt nu meede/ afgedaen soodat ick nu oock geneegen ben om die/ selvijge te leeveren om sijn Hoocheijt daer meede/ te vermaeken want deesen twe sijnt daer die meeste/ ende die naetuereelste beweechgelickheijt . in/ geopserveert is dat oock de grooste oorsaeck is dat/ die selvijge soo lang onder handen sij geweest. - in margin: deessen 12 Januwarij 1639, Mijn heer ik woon op die binnenemster, thuijs is genaemt die suijckerbackerrij [in Amsterdam]."

"I have read your pleasant letter of 14th with singular pleasure. I discern your kind inclination and affection which I feel deeply obliged to requite [you] with service and friendship. Because of [my] inclination to do this, [and] in spite of your wish (of Constantijn Huygens], [I] am sending [you] along [with this letter] a painting, hoping that you will accept it, because it is the first momento which I offer you, Sir.. ..postscripttum]: My [dear] Sir: hang this picture in a bright light and in such a manner that it can be viewed from a distance. It will then sparkle at its best."

"version in original Dutch (origineel citaat van Rembrandt, in Nederlands): ..soo ist door [mijn] geneegentheijt [voor Huygens de raadspensionaris] tot sulx tegens mijns/ heeren begeeren dees bijgaenden douck toesenden [ bij de brief]/ hoopende dat u mijner in deesen niet versmaeden/ sult want het is die eersten gedachtenis/ die ick aen mijn heer laet./.. ..[postscriptum]: Mijn heer hangt dit stuck op een starck licht en dat men daer wuijt ken afstaen soo salt best voncken."

"For some variation it would be better to place the donkey seen from behind [to avoid] all faces looking out of the picture [forward] And the tree could also have more foliage. 1. Joseph has been portrayed too fat and too recklessly 2. Mary should hold the child more gently because a vulnerable child can't stand being held so firmly Joseph is too short fat - his head is growing from his trunk and both [Joseph & Mary] their heads are too big"

"Quote in original Dutch (citaat van Rembrandt in Nederlands): Beeter waert dat (om de veranderin) den eesel van achteren was / dan dat al de hoofden iuist wt het stuck sien dat oock omtrent die boom wat meerder groente was 1 iosep heft alte swaer en te onbesuist 2 maria most het kindeken wat meerder vieren want een teeder kint magh sulck duwen niet ve[elen?] iosep alte kort en dick / syn hooft wast hem wt de [romp?] sij hebben alle beide al te groote koppen"

"Try to put well in practice what you already know; and in so doing, you will in good time, discover the hidden things which you now inquire about. Practice what you know, and it will help to make clear what now you do not know. By following carefully the rules of teachings provided that they are truthful, you can save a lot of time. But a student full of doubt is unable to move forwards and to judge well the truth."

"version in original Dutch (origineel citaat van Rembrandt, in Nederlands): Schikt u daer nae, dat gy 't geene gy alreets weet, wel leert in 't werk stellen, zoo zult gy de verborgentheden, daer gy nu na vraegt, tijts genoeg ontdekt zien..."

"As seen from the Weighing House, the Town Hall of Amsterdam / after it was burnt down. / July, the 9th 1652. / Rembrandt van Rijn.[Rembrandt The Ruins of the Old City Hall in Amsterdam (After the Fire). [ Rembrandt The Ruins of the Old City Hall in Amsterdam (After the Fire) ]."

"version in original Dutch (origineel citaat van Rembrandt, in Nederlands): Van d'waech af te sien statshuis van Amsterldam / doen 't afgebrandt was. / Den 9 july 1652. Rembrandt van Rijn."

"[..that he] would not touch the painting, nor finish it unless the claimant pays him the balance due or guarantees it by giving a security."

"..in order to etch, take white turpentine oil, and add half the turpentine to it; pour the mixture into a small glass bottle and let it boil in pure [?] water for half an hour."

"I am most astonished by what has been written about the [painting] 'Alexander', which is so well done that I must suppose there are not many lovers of art [amatori] at Messina. I am also surprised that Your Lordship [Don Antonio Ruffo] should complain as much about the price as about the canvas, but if Your Lordship wishes to return it as he did the sketch [schizzo] of Homer, I will do another Alexander.. .If Your Lordship likes the Alexander as is, very well. If he does not want to keep it, six hundred florins remain outstanding. And for the Homer [painting] five hundred florins plus the expenses of canvas, it being understood that everything is at Your Lordship's expense. Having agreed to it, would he kindly send me his desired measurements. Awaiting the response to settle the matter."

"Anno 1659 / On Wednesday, May 14 / You are requested to attend the funeral of / Aegtje Nachtglas / daughter of the late Jacob Pietersz / Nachtglas / at the Cleveniers-Doele [Amsterdam] at one o'clock. Come as friend of the house / Nieuwe-Kerck. [Verso] So eager to catch Christ out in his answer that they could not wait for written reply."

"The Ground of Rinebrant of Rine: Take half an ounce of Expoltum burnt of Amber, one ounce of Virgin's was, half an ounce of Mastick, then take the Mastick and Expoltum, and beat them severally very fine in a Mortar; this being done, take a new earthen pot and set upon it a charcoal-fire, then shake into it the Mastick and Expoltum by degrees, stirring the Wax about till they be thoroughly mingled, then pour it forth into fair water and make a ball of it, and use it as before mentioned, but be sure you do not heat the plate too hot when you lay the ground upon it, this is the only way of Rinebrant."

"I can't paint the way they want me to paint and they know that too. Of course you will say that I ought to be practical and ought to try and paint the way they want me to paint. Well, I will tell you a secret. I have tried and I have tried very hard, but I can't do it. I just can't do it! And that is why I am just a little crazy."

"Choose only one master — Nature."

"Painting is the grandchild of nature. It is related to God."

"A painting is finished when the artist says it is finished."

"A painting is not made to be sniffed."

"Also, the son of a miller [= Rembrandt] in Leiden is esteemed highly, though prematurely. Elyas Veldenus [= Esaias van der Velde ] is an elegant painter, though unimportant, now residing at the Hague. The rector Scrivelius showed me his portrait, very lifelike on a panel by the Haarlem painter Frans Hals."

"I have deliberately reserved for last a noble pair of youths from Leiden [Huygens visited Rembrandt and Jan Lievens in 1628]. Were I to say that they alone can vie with the greatest among the superior mortals mentioned earlier, I would still be underestimating the merits of these two; were I to say that they will soon surpass them, I would merely be expressing what their astonishing beginnings have led connoisseurs to expect."

"I maintain that it did not occur to Protogenes, Appeles or Parrhasius, nor could it occur to them were they return to earth that (I am amazed simply to report this) a youth, a Dutchman, a beardless miller, could bring together so much in one human figure and express what is universal. All honor to thee, my Rembrandt! To have carried Illium, indeed all Asia, to Italy is a lesser achievement than to have brought the laurels of Greece and Italy to Holland, the achievement of a Dutchman who has seldom ventured outside the walls of his native city (...)"

"Due to their parents' straitened circumstances, the youths [Rembrandt and Jan Lievens, living in Leiden, then] were compelled to take teachers whose fees were modest. Were these teachers to be confronted with their pupils today, they would feel just as abashed as those teachers who gave Virgil his first lessons in poetry, Cicero in rhetoric and Archimedes in mathematics. Let it however be said, with due respect for everyone's capacities and without detracting from anyone (for what is it to me?): these two owe nothing to their teachers but everything to their aptitude. Had they never received any tuition but been left to their own devices and suddenly been seized by the urge to paint, I am convinced that they would have risen to the same heights as they indeed have. It would be wrong to think that others have led them to this point."

"He was seized with the desire to paint my portrait. I assured him that I should be only too pleased to grant him the opportunity if he would come to The Hague and put up at my house for a while. So ardent was his desire that he arrived within a few days, explaining that since seeing me his nights had been restless and his days so troubled that he had been unable to work. My countenance had lodged so firmly in his mind that his eagerness brooked no further delay."

"Rembrandt surpasses Lievens in the faculty of penetrating to the heart of his subject matter and bringing out its essence, and his works come across more vividly. Lievens, in turn, surpasses him in the proud self-assurance that radiates from his compositions and their powerful forms. Because Lievens's spirit - and this is due in part to his youth - is charged with the great and the glorious, he is inclined to depict the objects and models before him not life-sized but larger than life. Rembrandt on the other hand, obsessed by the effort to translate into paint what he sees in the mind's eye, prefers smaller formats, in which he nonetheless achieves effects that you will not find in the largest works of others."

"I stand firm: neither Protogenes, Apelles nor Parrhasius ever came up with the idea, nor, if they were to return to earth could they produce anything like this, created by a young, as yet beardless Hollander [Rembrandt, c. 1631], a miller, what he has combined in one figure and created in its entirety. It fills me with astonishment even as I say it. Congratulations Rembrandt!. ..the achievement of a Dutchman who has never ventured outside the walls of his native city."

"Ah Rembrandt, do paint Cornelis' voice His appearance is the least of him The invisible one can learn by ear Those wanting to see Anslo, must him hear. (translation from original Dutch: Anne Porcelijn)"

"original old-Dutch version of Vondel: 'Ay, Rembrant, mael Cornelis Stem. Het zichtbre deel is 't minst van hem: 't onsichtbre kent men slechts door d'ooren wien Anslo zien wil, moet hem hooren."

"Explanatory version: Ah Rembrandt, try to paint Cornelis Anslo's voice / What one sees of his appearance is so little of him / What you can't see of him you can learn through hearing. / Those wanting a complete impression of him will have to hear him (preach). (transl. Aernout Hagen, Museum Het Rembrandthuis, Amsterdam)"

"As for the art of Panting and the affection off the people to Pictures, I thincke none other goe beeyond them, there having bin in the Country Many excellent Men in thatt Faculty, some att Presentt, as Rimbrantt [Rembrandt], etts, All in general striving to adorne their houses, especially the outer or street roome, with costly peeces, Butchers and bakers not much inferiour in their shoppes, which are Fairely sett Forth, yea many tymes blacksmithes, Coblers, etts., will have some picture or some other by their forge and in their stalle. Such is the general Notion, enclination to Paintings. [i.m.] The affection of the people thereto, as Allso to the curious adorning and cleanly keeping of their houses, streets, etc."

"Dear Sir, You would do me a great favor, when in London, to greet Mr. Cornelius Poelenburg, the celebrated painter, and other friends on my behalf. And if, by chance, the illustrious Mr. van Dyck has arrived there, I send him my humble greetings and tell him that yesterday I was called upon to appraise the paintings belonging to Mr. Lopez, including some by Titian.. ..Sir, if you happend to think of it, when you pass through Holland, please.. ..[try to] obtain paintings by Mr. Cornelio [Cornelius Poelenburgh] which you can easily find in London and Utrecht. In the latter city greet Gerrit [van] Honthorst, and in Amsterdam give my greetings to Mr. Rembrandt and bring back [buy!] something by him. Tell him also that yesterday I appraised his painting 'The Prophet Balaam', [Rembrandt painted in 1626}. which Mr. Lopez bought from him. This piece will be sold together with the ones mentioned above."

"In the name of our Lord Amen.. ..Saskia van Uijlenburch, wife of the Honorable Rembrant van Rhijn, residing in this city, well known to me, the notary, although sick in bed, yet in full control of her memory and understanding, as it outwardly appeared, after commending her soul to God Almighty and her body to Christian burial, before me declared and appointed as her heirs Titus van Rijn, her son, as well as any other lawful child or children she might bear.."

"Thus is Anslo depicted [by Rembrandt Thus his piety is rendered his countenance So that if perchance The grand old man shall cease to speak, This present likeness will speak to nations."

"..dumb integuments teach. Cuts of flesh, though dead, for that very reason forbid us to die. Here, while with artful hand he slits the pallid limbs, speaks to us the eloquence of learned Tulp: 'Listener, learn yourself! and while you proceed through the parts, believe that, even in the smallest, God lies hid.'"

"that with her needle she eclipses what Rembrandt, in his paintings, does with his brush, for she also paints with gold.."

"original old-Dutch text: ..dat zy de schilderyen, Van Rembrant zellever, verduistert met de naald, Die een pinceel verstrekt, daar zy met goud mee maalt..."

"This drawing shows the outer Amstel bank so properly drawn by Mr. Rembrant's own hand P[hilips de] Ko[ninck] f 5:-"

"original old-Dutch text: Dees tekeningh vertoont de buiten amstel kant / Soo braaf getekent door heer Rembrants eijgen hant / P. Ko: f 5:-"

"..I will not attempt your fame O Rembrandt, with my pen to scrawl For the esteem you receive in every hall Is known when I merely mention your name.."

"in original old-Dutch: Ick sal niet pogen uwe roem O Rembrandt met mijn pen te malen, Elck weet wat eer dat ghy kont halen Wanneer ick slechts u name roem"

"Ah, Rembrant, be careful when you etch Coppenol , It is fraught with danger: the burin will slip from your hand When your eyes feast on this calligraphy Your stylus will lose all its power."

"When I read St. John's inscription of this scene And turn to see it in this splendid painting [of Rembrandt], then I ask myself if brush has ever followed pen As aptly, or dead paint near to life has been."

"This is portrayed after my wife when she was 21 years old, the third day after we were betrothed, on the 8th of June 1633"