Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606–1669) is one of the most famous,[1][2] controversial, and best expertly researched (visual) artists in history.[3][4]
His life and art have long attracted the attention of multidisciplinary scholarship such as art history, social history,[5] cultural history, history of ideas, education, humanities, aesthetics, philosophy, psychology, sociology, literary studies, anatomy, medicine, religious studies, theology, Jewish studies,[6] Oriental studies (Asian studies),[7] globalization studies,[8][9] and art market research. In Rembrandt scholar Stephanie Dickey's words:
[Rembrandt] earned international renown as a painter, printmaker, teacher, and art collector while never leaving the Dutch Republic. In his home city of Leiden and in Amsterdam, where he worked for nearly forty years, he mentored generations of other painters and produced a body of work that has never ceased to attract admiration, critique, and interpretation. (...) Rembrandt's art is a key component in any study of the Dutch Golden Age, and his membership in the canon of artistic genius is well established, but he is also a figure whose significance transcends specialist interest. Literary critics have pondered "Rembrandt" as a "cultural text"; novelists, playwrights, and filmmakers have romanticized his life, and in popular culture, his name has become synonymous with excellence for products and services, ranging from toothpaste to self-help advice."[4]
For a visual artist in general and an Old Master in particular, Rembrandt (i.e. his life, art, and circle) has been the subject of a vast amount of literature that includes both fiction and nonfiction works. The field of Rembrandt studies (study of Rembrandt's life and work, including works by his pupils and followers)—as an academic field in its own right with many noted Rembrandt connoisseurs and scholars—has been one of the most dynamic research areas of Netherlandish art (or art of the pre-1830 Low Countries) history.[3][10] In the history of the reception and interpretation of Rembrandt's art, the great 'rediscovery' of the Dutch master in 19th-century France and Germany decisively helped in establishing his lasting fame in subsequent centuries.[11][12]
The following is a list of works about Rembrandt. A longer bibliography is at [13]
Paul Solman (2004): "[Rembrandt] The most famous brand name in western art. In America alone it graces toothpaste, bracelet charms, restaurant and bars, counter-tops and of course the town of Rembrandt, Iowa just halfway around the world from the Rembrandt Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. Funny thing is Rembrandt might have been quite pleased with such widespread notoriety."
Rembrandt scholar Stephanie Dickey (2006): "One thing that really surprises me is the extent to which Rembrandt exists as a phenomenon in pop culture. You have this musical group call the Rembrandts, who wrote the theme song to Friends—"I'll Be There For You." There are Rembrandt restaurants, Rembrandt hotels, art supplies and other things that are more obvious. But then there's Rembrandt toothpaste. Why on Earth would somebody name a toothpaste after this artist who's known for his really dark tonalities? It doesn't make a lot of sense. But I think it's because his name has become synonymous with quality. It's even a verb—there's a term in underworld slang, 'to be Rembrandted,' which means to be framed for a crime. And people in the cinema world use it to mean pictorial effects that are overdone. He's just everywhere, and people who don't know anything, who wouldn't recognize a Rembrandt painting if they tripped over it, you say the name Rembrandt and they already know that this is a great artist. He's become a synonym for greatness."
Algis Valiunas (2006): "Alongside Leonardo and Michelangelo, Rembrandt is one of the three most famous artists ever, with whom the public is on a first-name basis; and the name Rembrandt has lent the cachet of greatness and the grace of familiarity to sell everything from kitchen countertops to whitening toothpaste to fancy hotels in Bangkok and Knightsbridge."
In The Film Daily's biographical sketches of directors (July 1, 1928), DeMille was already being credited with "the first developments in lighting and photography." While shooting The Warrens of Virginia (1915), DeMille had experimented with lighting instruments borrowed from a Los Angeles opera house. When business partner Sam Goldwyn saw a scene in which only half an actor's face was illuminated, he feared the exhibitors would pay only half the price for the picture. DeMille remonstrated that it was Rembrandt lighting. "Sam's reply was jubilant with relief," recalled DeMille. "For Rembrandt lighting the exhibitors would pay double!"