Rembrandt Museum House

The Rembrandt Museum House (Museum het Rembrandthuis) is a house located on Jodenbreestraat, in Amsterdam, where lived Rembrandt from 1639 to 1656. It is now a museum that reconstructs the artist’s place of life and exhibits his prints as well as his entourage paintings.

The History of the House

It was built in 1606-1607 for Cornelis van der Voort in the street called Sint Anthonisbreestraat, in a neighborhood where many merchants and artists settled. It is a two-storey gabled House. it was remodeled entirely in 1627-1628 when it receives a new façade, an additional floor and a triangular pediment, everything was supervised by Jacob van Campen.

1639–1658

In 1639 Rembrandt purchased the House for 13 000 florins, a huge sum which he couldn’t pay at once. He was authorized to stagger the purchase. Although he was a reputable artist, and his revenues was important, he was never able to pay off its debts and knew bankruptcy in 1656. His property (including his art collections and his cabinet of curiosities), which were sold for the benefit of its creditors. The House itself is sold at auction for approximately 11 000 florins. Rembrandt moved to a small house he rented in the Rozengracht. He died there in the 1669.

1658–1911

In 1660-62, the House was supported and separated into two in order to accommodate several families. it transformed several times and degrades slowly. Certainly, it would have been destroyed if the memory of Rembrandt had not remained.

A reaction took place on the Rembrandt three hundredth anniversary in 1906. The city of Amsterdam bought the House and entrusted it to the Stichting Rembrandthuis, Founded in 1907. The Board of the foundation decides to try to return to the State of the House at the time of Rembrandt. This plan cannot be however achieved: The House was only renovated by the architect K.P.C. de Bazel and serves as a setting for the presentation of the engraver’s prints. In 1911, the Queen Wilhelmine was able to inaugurate the Museum.

1911-today

The print collection increases rapidly and the temporary exhibitions were organized, but the House changed a bit.

Changes occur during the Decade of the 1990s when the Foundation can acquire contiguous buildings, to build an extension. The new building is due to the architects Moshé Zwarts, Rein Jansma (facade) and Peter Sas (internal). The new wing was opened on the 7^th of May 1998 and hosts two exhibition spaces, offices, and the library. These new spaces allow the Organization of the old House to be completely take over: the idea of returning to the 1650s State reappeared, with a theoretical debate on the restoration of historical monuments and the relevance of encouraging one State rather than another.

However, the decision was made to restore the State of Rembrandt, which was done under the direction of historian Henk Zantkuijl. The sources are then compiled, the most important being the inventory of 1626 and the bankruptcy of Rembrandt. Some drawings and prints by Rembrandt provide complementary information. The restoration was carried out by the architect Maarten Neerincx: it was completed in 1999.

Different parts

The visitor enters through the modern part and enters the House through the basement. This was where lies a large kitchen where the whole household eats and where the servants sleeps. The workshop of Rembrandt has an intaglio press: demonstrations are performed to allow the visitor to understand the print.

The ground floor consists of a large entrance and two reception rooms, which Rembrandt used as a showroom for his works and those of the painters he sold. He slept in one of these rooms. On the upper floor is a painting workshop as well as his cabinet of curiosities.

Interior and collection

A few years ago the house was thoroughly reconstructed on the inside to show how the house would have looked in Rembrandt's days. Adjoining (and linked to) the house is a modern building where work of Rembrandt is on display, mainly etchings and also a part of his collection of objects from all over the world.

Administration

The museum director is Michael Huijser and David de Witt is the curator.

Since 2008, the museum had around 200,000 visitors per year, with a record number of 237,383 visitors in 2014.

Source: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%C3%A9e_de_la_maison_de_Rembrandt