Rembrandt and Vermeer: The Lives and Art of the Greatest Dutch Masters

Of all the famous Dutch masters during the Late Renaissance and Early Baroque periods, none surpass Rembrandt van Rijn in either historical importance or artistic merit. His aesthetic has been much-imitated, a testament to the inspirational grip they exert on their viewer. Key aspects of his style are instantly recognizable to even the casual fine art enthusiast: his penchant for chiaroscuro lighting amidst dark backgrounds; the feverish intensity of his subjects, who are often shown seemingly in action rather than composed; and the recurring use of Biblical and historical subject matter, not to mention an even more prolific output of portraits commissioned (including works commissioned by the Court of the Hague). 

If “baroque” connotes excess, it is most appropriate that Rembrandt stands as the most famous painter of the Baroque age, as he lived well beyond his means. His life and career stand in almost complete disharmony, with a vast discrepancy existing between the care and deliberateness with which he conducted his painting, juxtaposed against the careless financial decisions he made -decisions that left him altogether impoverished at the time of his death in 1669. 

Johannes Vermeer has fascinated a growing number of 21st century viewers with his most intimate depictions of the nature of human existence. The formal perfection of his compositions and the precision of his painting technique, expressing his fantastic narrative ability and accurate realism, have become a quintessential characteristic of the Dutch Golden Age of painting. Nearly 400 years later, Vermeer is still celebrated for his incomparable sense of timelessness, human dignity and unprecedented talent for creating luminosity and purity of color in his scenes.  The mystique of the paintings he produced by using the most expensive pigments (such as ultramarine) and the technique of painting with an optical device known as a camera obscura made Vermeer an art pioneer.