Beverly M.
Yelp
I was not expecting to be so caught up by a visit to Rembrandt's home and studio.
I was to learn that he purchased this exorbitantly lavish four-story home very early in his career.
Unlike practically every other artist of his time, he didn't have to wait to hit his zenith. Happily and madly in love with his wife, he also rocketed to stardom as a painter almost instantly, receiving the most coveted commissions for portraits and group paintings for unprecedented fees.
Rembrandt collected other painters' artworks and also represented them. The walls of the house are richly adorned with great art work and the furnishings are splendid. This was a life reserved for nobility and only the most successful of merchants, not a young artist!
The 4th floor of the house was devoted to the "mass production" of his art and that of others. Three apprentices worked in the light-filled area, a printing press cranked out his engravings and also his printmaking.
We are given the opportunity to see how he mixed his paints, and also to buy the powders in the gift shop below.
He would lose his beloved wife 9 years later, probably from tuberculosis.
19 years after moving in, he'd lose this home and his vast collections to bankruptcy... his shop-a-holic behavior and political missteps would get him into a heap of trouble.
There are so many great museums to visit in this fair city, but I'd rank Rembrandt House among the top 5, just after the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh museum, the Anne Frank house, and the Stedelijk Museum.
That said, this is not a good Museum for people with walking impairments, parents with strollers, etc. The only way to ascend is via a narrow staircase.