‘All the Rembrandts’

This year marks the 350th anniversary of the death of Rembrandt and Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum has mounted an extraordinary exhibition of the Dutch master’s work.

‘All the Rembrandts’ includes the museum’s entire collection of 22 paintings, 60 drawings and 300 of Rembrandt’s best prints. Seen together they offer an unprecedented perspective on the artist’s life and work.

The Rijksmuseum has billed ‘All the Rembrandts’ as the exhibition of the year. Critics have described it as ‘dazzling’ and ‘awe-inspiring’. Thanks to an unexpected layover in Amsterdam we had an opportunity to see the exhibition for ourselves. The critics were right. It is astonishingly good.

It was a flying visit to Amsterdam - five hours from touchdown at Schiphol Airport to wheels up on the connecting flight; not a lot of time to get into town, see the exhibition and get back again

But it was absolutely worth the effort; 'All the Rembrandts' includes many of the artist's big-ticket attractions such as 'Syndics of the Drapers' Guild' (1662)

'Man in Oriental Dress' (1635)

And the magnificent 'The Jewish Bride' (1667)

But the exhibition also includes Rembrandt's drawings

And prints - the artist was a master printmaker

The innovative etching and printing techniques Rembrandt employed were far beyond anything that had been seen previously

At times during his career, Rembrandt was known more for his prints than for his paintings

Despite the huge number of works on display, this feels like a very intimate exhibition; the model for this painting 'Young Woman in Fantasy Costume' (1633) is thought to have been Rembrandt's beloved wife, Saskia

Rembrandt's son ('Titus as a Monk', 1660); Titus was Rembrandt and Saskia's only child - she died before their baby's first birthday

Rembrandt was desolate; the artist lived for another 27 years but despite his earlier success, Rembrandt died a poor man in 1669 and was buried in an unmarked grave ('Self-Portrait as the Apostle Paul', 1661)

Rembrandt's most celebrated painting is 'The Night Watch' (1642) - the official portrait of the Citizen Militia Company of Amsterdam’s District II

Rather than create a traditional formal portrait, Rembrandt depicted Captain Cocq and Lieutenant van Ruytenburgh and their men jostling around, preparing to march out - it's fun and funny

On the day of our visit, a young teacher was giving his charges a detailed description of the painting; at the end he had them all up playing the role of Captain Cocq giving the signal to march - they loved it

And so did we - it seemed a fitting finale to this exhibition of an artist who, unlike any other, captured the passion and emotion of life as it's lived