David De Witt

The first monograph of the life and work of a significant but little known Dutch Baroque painter

In the years around 1651, Rembrandts young charges followed him in the turn of his late style, with its concentration, inner emotion, impasto handling, and restrained dynamism. Around then the young Abraham van Dijck also arrived from Dordrecht to complete his studies. He quickly grasped his master's new direction, but also developed a gentle and vulnerable alternative to it: exploring the evocation of inner life, with daring experiments in light and handling. Together with fellow pupils Nicolaes Maes, Jacobus Leveck and Cornelis Bisschop, he returned to Dordrecht for a brief and fertile period of painting and drawing. Eventually he succumbed to the siren call of Amsterdam once more. This is the first comprehensive monograph of his remarkable achievement in drawing and paintings and his distinctive contribution to the art of this period.

Rembrandt seems to have been an artist who took little notice of other people. Yet he had a family, friends and acquaintances who helped him, bought his art, lent him money, challenged him artistically and inspired him. He would never have become such a great artist without his social network. This book explores that network: Rembrandt's early friends, family members ('blood friends'), artist friends, the connoisseurs who supported him and his friends in times of need. As a friend, Rembrandt went his own way. He made little effort to get on with the elite, and preferred to surround himself with people who understood art. He had strong ties with them, as he did with the members of his family. He portrayed them in remarkably informal paintings and prints, works that bring Rembrandt's private world to life.