Rembrandt

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Barbara J. Feldman

Next year is the 400th anniversary of Rembrandt's birth on July 15, 1606. Because Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn is revered as Holland's greatest and most prolific baroque artist, Dutch museums are already starting to celebrate. Rembrandt is credited with 600 paintings, 300 etchings and 1400 drawings. Although experts argue that some of these were actually done by Rembrandt's apprentices, that's still a lot of art.

Artchive: One Man Show: Rembrandt

4 stars

Mark Harden's Artchive exhibits "seven of the master's greatest works in a virtual gallery setting. Be sure to zoom in for the level of detail required for a true appreciation of these masterpieces." A simple and intuitive interface makes this gallery a delight. While you're here, be sure to mouse around the other galleries (especially The Sculpture Garden, Goya, and The First Impressionist Exhibition, 1874) and Juxtapositions (a collection of art critiques and additional exhibits.)

Rembrandt House Museum

5 stars

I didn't find the virtual room-by-room museum tour very compelling, but fortunately I checked out the Rembrandt section before I left, because it's a winner. To enter, click on the olive green Rembrandt icon in the horizontal menu header. You'll be rewarded with an interactive Rembrandt time line, annotated tour of famous works, and a FAQ that will lead you to a kids section (click on the school link in the first answer.) Although the kids section opens with an error, you can still visit the Rembrandt quiz and three interactive games.

Rembrandt Research Project

5 stars

In 1968, a team of art historians undertook to catalog and analyze Rembrandt's entire body of work. This website is part of that Rembrandt Research Project. Yes, there are minor grammatical errors here, but keep in mind these historians are not native English speakers. My favorite clicks are found in Rembrandt Multimedia, where you can view very short QuickTime videos about four of Rembrandt's most famous paintings.

RijksMuseum: Rembrandt

5 stars

Explore Rembrandt's life with a hotlinked biography (turn the pages by following the next/previous links in the bottom right corner) and then discover his artwork by mousing over the thumbnails in the upper left. At first glance, you might think there are only five pieces of art to explore, but the thumbnails scroll as you hover your mouse over them. With an elegant interface, outstanding graphics, and well-written articles, RijksMuseum is my Rembrandt pick of the day.

Web Gallery of Art: Rembrandt

4 stars

The Web Gallery of Art is a searchable virtual museum of gothic, renaissance and baroque artwork. The Rembrandt exhibit includes a biography and a huge database of works. Best feature is the Send Postcard function, which you'll find along with a description of the work by clicking on the Info icon in the Comment column of many (but not all) the artwork thumbnails.