Young Rembrandt: A Biography

By Onno Blom

Book Overview

Rembrandt's life has always been an enigma. How did a miller's son from a provincial Dutch town become the greatest artist in the world? With his formative years shrouded in mystery, the only remaining evidence of Rembrandt's life as a young man is his work. Deeply rooted in the turbulent changes that his hometown was undergoing, Rembrandt's early paintings tell a fascinating story of artistic evolution against the backdrop of the widening horizons of Leiden's cultural and commercial life during the Dutch Golden Age. Leiden's fortune facilitated Rembrandt's. But who was that young man inventing himself as the city around him grew and prospered? How did Rembrandt become Rembrandt? To find out, Onno Blom immersed himself in the world, the country, the city and the house in which Rembrandt was born in 1606 and where he spent the first twenty-five years of his life. The result is a fascinating portrait of the artist as a young man, rich in local and biographical detail, and restless in its efforts to seek out the roots of his genius.

• Format: MP3 CD
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1705016596
• ISBN13: 9781705016596
• Release Date: December 2020
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Length: 1 Pages

Customer Reviews

Something Missing...

Reading this book was like attending a social gathering where the setting is wonderful, but the host is missing. In "Young Rembrandt" we learn all there is to know about Leiden, his city of birth. But since little is known about Rembrandt's early life, there is a large void in the center of it all. A feeling of great sadness overwhelmed me when reading the book, as the focal point of the story is literally not there. Yes, we are given glimpses of Rembrandt's presence, but again, it's like reading about a wispy essence, rather than a real person. It is obvious the author did a great deal of research about the history of Leiden and it's inhabitants, and that aspect is admirable. I simply feel it didn't add up to a fulfilling story. It's ironic, for Rembrandt - in his later years - is one of the strongest and most compelling characters in art history.