Fine Canvas Art Blog

Man in the Golden Helmet by Rembrandt van Rijn, ca. 1650

Paintings (Reproductions) / Rembrandt - 1 year ago - troycapc

This reproduction of the  famous “Man in a Golden Helmet” is stunning.  The original was created in about 1650.  It is considered one of the greatest masterpieces of western art and was very influential over Impressionist painters.  This is not a commissioned portrait but a study made up of an older man who had sat for Rembrandt before and a helmet that was in the artist’s collection.  The original is now displayed in the Gemaldengalerie in Berlin.

Rembrandt was born in 1606 Leiden and, after schooling in Latin and the Classics, he entered an apprenticeship in painting when sixteen years old.  After a brief stay in Amsterdam he returned to Leiden and opened a studio with his friend Jan Lievens; they were both nineteen.  He soon won acclaim through influential contacts and in 1630 moved to Amsterdam after the death of his father.  Four years later as a master of the Guild of St. Luke Rembrandt gathered a large number of students about his workshop.  He married that year and continued to produce masterpieces such as the Abduction of Ganymede, the Sacrifice of Isaac and the Night Watch.  His domestic tranquility was disturbed by the death of his wife in 1642 but Rembrandt continued his prodigious output.  Nevertheless Rembrandt was forced into bankruptcy in 1654 and mostly lived in seclusion until his death in 1669 though he continued to produce masterpieces.

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