Rembrandt's Last Years (Part 1, Part 2)

Author: Hans van Loon
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1998-03-01
Features: This book is a memoir, originally written by Joannes van Loon, a highly respected surgeon from 17th-century Amsterdam. Joannes was Rembrandt's loyal friend, and he wrote this book primarily to express his inner frustrations, without intending to publish it publicly. About three centuries later, in 1930, the ninth-generation great-grandson of Joannes, Hendrik Willem van Loon, who was famous for his book Tolerance, discovered this manuscript among his ancestors' legacy. He meticulously edited it and added a postscript, publishing it publicly in the United States for the first time. The book consists of eighty chapters, plus a preface and postscript, totaling over 500,000 words. The author provides a detailed account of Rembrandt's life in the nearly three decades after his death, the creation process of some of his famous works, and his artistic viewpoints. To truly understand and study Rembrandt in depth, this book serves as an important primary source material.