Master painter Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) is revered the world over for his golden-lit canvases and beautifully detailed etchings; particular adoration is bestowed on his dozens of self-portraits, which convey an unflinching and sensitive chronicle of his own humanity. He is one of the handful of painters still lauded today as a genius, and even in his own time he knew great fame and wealth.
But despite his renown, his later years were bitterly difficult, as the style of his work fell out of favor and he spiraled into bankruptcy. His private life was likewise none too stable, and though he apparently felt affection for the three great loves of his life, that fact did not stop him from sometimes treating them cruelly, or using them as a means to achieve his own ends.
Saskia van Uylenburgh, Rembrandt’s Wife
Rembrandt van Rijn married Saskia van Uylenburgh in June of 1634, when he was 28 and she 22. The Uylenburgh family was in a higher social strata than Rembrandt’s, though it appears that Saskia’s family approved of the match. The Van Rijns did not approve, evidently for religious reasons, but did nothing to stop the nuptials, though it’s likely that Rembrandt was estranged from his family from then on.
Though Rembrandt certainly seems to have loved Saskia, there are hints that he expected more than companionship from the union. The Uylenburghs were wealthy, and Saskia brought a respectable dowry to the marriage, but she also had seven siblings to share the inheritance with, and thus her dowry was not as large as Rembrandt had hoped.
There were also legal complications among the heirs that caused the Uylenburghs to scrutinize the couple’s spending, which by all accounts was excessive; in 1639 Rembrandt bought a large house (now the Museum het Rembrandthuis in Amsterdam) and filled it with lavish props for his paintings. Money did seem to be coming in steadily, though; Rembrandt did many paintings of Saskia which he had no trouble selling, and his self-portraits were being snapped up as well.
All was not rosy, however; Saskia bore several of Rembrandt’s children, and three of them died in infancy; their son Titus, born in 1641, was the only one to survive to adulthood. Saskia herself died young, in 1642, setting off a cascade of legal wrangling that would continue off and on for the rest of Rembrandt’s life.
Geertje Dircx, Rembrandt’s First Mistress
The year following Saskia’s death saw Rembrandt taking up with Titus’s wet nurse Geertje Dircx. The artist apparently gave some of Saskia’s jewelry to his new love, much to the consternation of the Uylenburgh family. Rembrandt and Geertje were an item for six years, and it is thought that Geertje was the model for at least one of the master’s works.
In 1649, though, the pair had a falling out, most likely because Rembrandt had by then begun a relationship with his housekeeper Hendrickje Stoffels. Geertje took Rembrandt to court, claiming he had promised to marry her, and she even pawned some of Saskia’s jewelry to pay for the case. Rembrandt, who probably would not have married again because it would mean losing Saskia’s inheritance, offered Geertje a yearly stipend, but she argued that it wasn’t enough and would not agree to terms.
She caused so much trouble and scandal for Rembrandt that he conspired to have her locked up in a madhouse. She was sentenced to twelve years, but was released after five due to illness, and she died a year after that, in 1656.
Hendrickje Stoffels, Rembrandt’s Second Mistress
Hendrickje began working for Rembrandt as a maid in 1647, though it isn’t certain exactly when their romantic relationship commenced. She was twenty years younger than he, which was rather scandalous in itself; the fact that Rembrandt refused to marry her caused tongues to wag even further.
In 1654, when Hendrickje became pregnant with Rembrandt’s child and also posed nude for his Bathsheba, she was hauled before the church council and charged with “living in sin,” though her punishment was not terribly severe. She gave birth to a daughter, Cornelia, in October of that year, and subsequently appeared in many of Rembrandt’s paintings.
In 1660 Hendrickje and Titus formed a company at Rembrandt’s behest in order to control his financial affairs; the firm was basically a front to keep creditors from taking everything the artist owned. Rembrandt himself pulled the strings, making the firm’s contract benefit him at the expense of his son and mistress. The ploy doesn’t seem to have been terribly successful, for Rembrandt struggled for money the rest of his life. Hendrickje contracted the plague and died in 1663, leaving everything to Cornelia.
In a strange twist to the tale, Rembrandt and Saskia’s son Titus ended up marrying Magdalena van Loo, a relative of Saskia’s who had taken Rembrandt to court in 1656; this tie back to the Uylenburgh family ensured they would no longer feel the need to sue the artist for his many financial transgressions.
Sources:
- Schwartz, Gary (1985). Rembrandt: His Life, His Paintings. Viking. ISBN 0-670-80876-8.
- Bandiquey, Paul (1984). The Life and Work of Rembrandt. Chartwell Books Inc. ISBN 2-86770-004-3.
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