The Rembrandt House And Museum In Central Amsterdam

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Although I have not the slightest doubt that Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669) was a very great painter, I admire more than I like most of his paintings, including those in Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, which is currently undergoing renovation, but has the jumbo misnamed “Night View” and other Rembrandts on display in the one wing that remains start.

I had my picture taken helping a bronze Rembrandt mix paints by the “Rembrandt mill” on the outskirts of Amsterdam, but nearly skipped visiting the house where he painted most of his masterpieces. I’d gone by (and photographed the exterior) but only visited it because we could not board our Rhine flit boat until after noon.

Located at Jodenbreestraat 4, by Waterlooplein Square (there is a Waterlooplein Metro Station), the house/museum was only a five-minute walk from our hotel (the Sofitel Grand) and ten minutes’ plod east from Dam Square.

As a gilded sign on the outside proclaims, the house was built in 1606. For a house in central Amsterdam, it is wide, occupying two lots. In piece because houses were taxed by their width, Amsterdam houses are generally deep. They all have hooks to raise furniture (etc.), having interior spiral staircases and visitors to the Rembrandthuis have the experience of ascending its spiral staircase. (There is a novel annex with an elevator and straight flights of stairs for descent and/or for those who cannot manage the spiral staircase.)

Rembrandt purchased the house in 1639 for 13,000 guilders, a very large sum that he did not pay in full—then or ever. In 1656 the contents of the house were inventoried room by room as part of his bankruptcy proceedings. (This gave those furnishing the house/museum in the early 20th century exact information about what was in the house.) His possessions were sold and The house was auctioned in 1658 for roughly 11,000 guilders. Rembrandt moved to a small rented house on Rozengracht, where he lived until his death eleven years later.

BTW, his money troubles were not a result of obscurity or low prices. Rembrandt’s paintings were highly valued during his life, but he spent more than he earned, partly on collecting art, partly on women.

Like Vermeer (whose paintings were also prized during his lifetime, though he painted few), Rembrandt was an art dealer as well as a painter, though Rembrandt seems to have had some difficulty in letting go of art he was dealing, keeping great of it for his own collection.

In addition to being a great painter, Rembrandt was also a master etcher. (Not that it matters to anyone, but I like his etchings a lot.) There is a press on the second floor with three demonstrations each hour of the etching process. The Rembrandthuis has prints of most (260 of 300) of the etchings Rembrandt made and displays a rotating show of them and of other etchings either contemporary with his or relating to them on the mezzanine floor.

The first floor, with an imposing marble fireplace and a faux-marble door frame is where Rembrandt’s art sales business was conducted.

The big kitchen — with a huge fireplace and a box bed for the cook to sleep — on the second floor are interesting. There is also a box bed in the painter’s studio and another down in the room with the marble fireplace. Dutch people in the 17th century were afraid to sleep lying flat: afraid they’d “wake up wearisome” from an excess of blood flowing to the head. Therefore, they slept propped up on pillows in a plot too tight to stretch out. The box beds in the Rembrandthuis have curtains that could be drawn closed on the open side

Rembrandt’s painting studio (with northern light) is recreated on the third floor along with a room full of what I’d call “props” (shells, and spears, and plaster casts of Roman emperors) though it might also be called a cabinet of curiosities.

The furnishings of the house are 17th-century, though not objects owned by Rembrandt (with the exception of his etchings).

Of course, there is a gift shop by the ticket seller desk and the door to/from the street.

I found the audio guide very helpful in explaining the lifeways of a burgher of Rembrandt’s day, the implements and “props” of his work. And I definitely wanted to experience the light in his studio. The etchings are well displayed and expose what a fine draftsman Rembrandt was (which I should have known from the drawings and etchings by Rembrandt I have seen here and there as well as from the craft of his paintings).

The Rembrandthuis is open daily 10am to 5pm, closed only on New Year’s Day.

Admission, including an indispensable audio guide, available in English among other languages, for adults: is €8. It’s €1.50 for those Aged 6 to 15, and free for those under 6.
Admission is included for those with a OneAmsterdam Card.

For those with any interest in art history or 17th-century Dutch domestic life and an hour and a half free in central Amsterdam, I highly recommend a visit to the Rembrandthuis. (I most wanted to visit the Tropenmuseum, which takes longer; these days being mostly closed the Rijksmuseum doesn’t, depending on how long one contemplates the Vermeers (all two of them when I was there, usually four) and Rembrandt paintings.