The 'late Rembrandt', second phase (1660-1669)

Abstract

When one surveys Rembrandt's painted oeuvre from the 1660s one gets a clear impression that his work after the bankruptcy and up to his death must still have been much in demand by well-to-do art-lovers. Yet this is in apparent contradiction with the fact that in his domestic circle he developed a construction whereby he was employed by a firm led by his common-law wife Hendrickje Stoffels and his son Titus. Rembrandt was the sole employee of this firm (Doc. 1660/20). Before taking this as a proof of Rembrandt's ultimate downfoll, however, one should first consider a very different — and better — explanation. Rembrandt must have still enjoyed a good income. Thanks to the work of Eric Jan Sluijter we know that Rembrandt demanded much higher prices for his works than any of his Amsterdam contemporaries (Sluijter 2014). Consequently he needed to prevent this income immediately being handed over to his creditors.