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| (Rembrandt's Self-Portrait at Age 53) |
If Rembrandt were a Patriarch, he would just about be in the middle of his life cycle on this 407th anniversary of his birth. After all, the Bible tells us that Adam lived to be 930, and Noah lived to be 950.
Although Rembrandt was not a Patriarch (and died at the age of 63 in 1669), he certainly was religiously inclined.
However, Wikipedia tells us that "there is no evidence that Rembrandt formally belonged to any church" - although his "mother was Roman Catholic" and his
father "belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church."
Wikipedia also mentions that the Dutch Republic that they lived in was "famously tolerant" at the time.
In writing for Christians
in the Visual Arts (CIVA), Jack Kinyon explains that it is "in Rembrandt's religious paintings that we actually get a glimpse into the spiritual life of the Dutch Master himself, revealing a faith that was affected by the world around him, while still retaining a uniquely intimate tone."
In referencing the publication Rembrandt's Faith, Kinyon states
that the great painter's religious art was influenced by both "the Dutch Republic of the 1600s and Rembrandt's own personal faith…"
He lists three recurrent themes within Rembrandt's religious works: Covenant Theology ("God's interaction with His chosen people through Covenants"), the Temple (of Jerusalem and of Christ's Body), and the Millennial messages of that age (i.e., "that Christ's return could be quickened by converting Jews to Christianity").
Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rembrandt
http://civa.org/civablog/the-religion-of-rembrandt/
Copyright July 15, 2013 by Linda Van Slyke All Rights Reserved
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