REMBRANDT

Related Topics: Art & Culture, India – Netherlands Relations

News

• The exhibition ‘India and the Netherlands in the Age of Rembrandt’ was inaugurated at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS) by King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands as a part of their state visit to India.
• The show is the first-ever collaborative effort between the CSMVS and Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, supported by the Netherlands Consulate General in Mumbai.
• The exhibition is a tribute to the Dutch master painter, Rembrandt, on his 350th death anniversary.
• The collaboration also celebrates 400 years of cultural heritage between the two countries.

Rembrandt and Mughal Miniatures

• Rembrandt made 25 drawings based on Mughal miniatures from India during 1656 to 1661, at the height of his career.
• This is in spite of the fact that the Dutch artist never set foot on Indian soil.
• The original artwork — depicting kings, princes and courtiers — made its way to the artist via the Dutch East India Company that controlled trade in Asia.
• It is believed that Rembrandt was inspired by these miniatures and created several drawings which are now scattered all over the world with eight in the collection of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.
• Many of these miniatures featured Shahjahan, who was the ruler of Mughal India during Rembrandt’s lifetime.
• The fact that a master artist like Rembrandt was inspired by Indian miniatures is a great tribute to the skill and craftsmanship of Indian artists.

About Rembrandt

• Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606 – 1669) was a Dutch draughtsman, painter and printmaker.
• He is one of the greatest storytellers in the history of art, possessing an exceptional ability to render people in their various moods and dramatic guises.
• He is also known as a painter of light and shade and as an artist who favoured an uncompromising realism that lead some critics to claim that he preferred ugliness to beauty.
• The Night Watch, a 1642 painting by Rembrandt, is one of the most famous Dutch Golden Age paintings.