The High Art of the Low Countries episode 2: Andrew Graham-Dixon looks at how the seemingly peaceful countries of Holland and Belgium – famous for their tulips and windmills, mussels and chips – were in fact forged in a crucible of conflict and division. He examines how a period of economic boom driven for the first time by a burgeoning […]
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Looking for Rembrandt episode 3: Desperate for money, Rembrandt takes on commissions that even his pupils have passed by, pupils who are now getting the grand offers that once came through Rembrandt’s door. Bankruptcy proceedings hound him for years and, although Rembrandt tries various – sometimes fraudulent – ways to divert some money back into his own pocket,
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Looking for Rembrandt episode 2: As Rembrandt paints his most iconic work, The Night Watch, his wife Saskia lies dying. Her death begins a ten-year decline in Rembrandt’s output as he pours himself into etching instead. Many etchings are erotically charged, perhaps a result of an affair he has begun with his infant son’s nursemaid. However, that relationship
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Looking for Rembrandt episode 1 : Rembrandt’s art is much loved and admired, but his remarkable life is less well-known. 350 years after his death, his surprising story told from an unusual perspective – his own. Rembrandt arrives in Amsterdam ‘like a thunderclap’ and his star rises as he is courted by the city’s wealthy elite. But he
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Simon Schama celebrates the masterpieces of Rembrandt’s last years. Although the artist fell into bankruptcy and scandal in later years, it took him to new creative heights. Icarus-like, Rembrandt flew ever higher towards the sun – the most successful artist in the richest city on earth, 17th-century Amsterdam. He lived like a prince and he loved living like
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Civilisation episode 8 – The Light of Experience: Kenneth Clark’s story takes him from the Holland of Rembrandt and Vermeer to the London of Wren, Purcell and the Royal Society. Kenneth Clark’s classic 1969 series tracing the history of Western art and philosophy. Civilisation episode 8 – The Light of Experience Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn
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Great Art: Rembrandt – Every Rembrandt exhibition is eagerly anticipated, but a once-in-a-lifetime show at London’s National Gallery and Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum that took 15 years to prepare was remarkable. With exclusive and privileged access to both galleries, this film documents this landmark exhibition while interweaving Rembrandt’s life story with behind-the-scenes preparations at these world-famous institutions. To many Rembrandt is the
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