Compare and Contrast Essay on Rembrandt

Compare and Contrast Essay
Return of the Prodigal Son and Christ Crucified Between the Two Thieves
Rembrandt Van Rijn b.1606-d.1669

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669) was a Dutch painter and etcher. He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art history and the most important in Dutch history. His contributions to art came in a period that historians call the Dutch Golden Age.
Having achieved youthful success as a portrait painter, his later years were marked by personal tragedy and financial hardships. Yet his etchings and paintings were popular throughout his lifetime, his reputation as an artist remained high, and for twenty years he taught many important Dutch painters. Rembrandt's greatest creative triumphs are exemplified especially in his portraits of his contemporaries, self-portraits and illustrations of scenes from the Bible. His self-portraits form a unique and intimate biography, in which the artist surveyed himself without vanity and with the utmost sincerity.
In his paintings and prints he exhibited knowledge of classical iconography, which he molded to fit the requirements of his own experience; thus, the depiction of a biblical scene was informed by Rembrandt's knowledge of the specific text, his assimilation of classical composition, and his observations of Amsterdam's Jewish population. Because of his empathy for the human condition, he has been called "one of the great prophets of civilization.
The return of the prodigal son is a famous Rembrandt oil painting which was joined by The Prodigal Son in the Tavern later in his career. It is one of Rembrandt's most famous renaissance paintings.
The Return of the Prodigal Son, Rembrandt, 1669 is now stored at the famous Russian Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. It regularly attracts visitors from around the world because of the fame of Rembrandt and also it's generally diverse collection of art. Other work by this Dutch...