The house that Rembrandt lived and painted in for 20 years of his life is now a museum. He purchased the Amsterdam house in 1639 ( the same year he was commissioned to paint Night Watch ) for the enormous sum of 13,000 guilders. He didn’t pay the entire sum at once, opting to pay in installments. In 1656 he lost the house when he was unable to keep up the payments.
The property and everything in it was sold. Because of the inventory and sketches the artist made, it has been possible to fill the house with furniture and items that could have been in the house during the years that Rembrandt lived there.
I found it fascinating to wander through the house. It was as though Rembrandt had just left for a moment and could return to his paints at any time.
The tour starts in the kitchen, which I thought looked very stylish.
The kitchen also had a strange box bed. It looked quite small, but it was explained that people used to sleep in a half seated position at the time, as they believed that lying flat would cause a rush of blood to the head.
The next room was up a spiral staircase to the ground floor, and was the entrance hall.
Rembrandt’s front door.
The room was quite small and filled with art. Rembrandt was an art dealer as well as a painter and this served as a small showroom for his own, and other art pieces.
From this room clients would be taken into a small sitting room, where there was more art on display….and another bed, where clients might stay overnight.
The next room we went into was the room where etchings were produced.
We moved on to the artist’s bedroom.
There was another spiral staircase up to the artist’s studio.
The studio was the biggest in the house.
The room next door was filled with things Rembrandt liked to collect to help him with his art.
Finally, there was a room filled with the master’s etchings.
Here is a little bit of Rembrandt from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
The museum is in Jodenbreestraat at number 4.