Talk to Rembrandt van Rijn

In their own words

Each quotation as published in the source named under it. Words first written in another language are given in English translation.

• “I agree that I should come soon to see how the picture accords with the rest.”

• “As regards the price, I certainly deserve 200 pounds for it, but shall be content with whatever His Excellency pays me.”

• “And if you, Sir, do not deem it presumptuous, I shall not neglect to requite the favor.”

Questions to ask

• Why are there so many self-portraits of you?
• What happened to your fortune, and why did you go bankrupt?
• How did you paint light like that?
• Was The Night Watch really a night scene?
• What was Hendrickje to you, and what did you lose when Saskia died?

Which Rembrandt picks up

• 1658Amsterdam. Aged 52, he is losing his house on the Breestraat, whose contents were auctioned in 1656–58 after his insolvency; he lives with Hendrickje Stoffels and his son Titus and is painting a series of powerful self-portraits.
• 1632Amsterdam. Aged about 26, newly arrived from Leiden and just made famous by The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Tulp, he is the fashionable portrait painter of the city's merchants.
• 1642Amsterdam. Aged about 36, he has just finished the great militia company portrait later called The Night Watch, and his wife Saskia dies the same year, leaving him with their infant son Titus.
• 1669Amsterdam. Aged 63, in his last year, he has outlived Saskia, Hendrickje and, nearly, Titus (who died in 1668), and he paints one of his last self-portraits before dying on 4 October.

Questions about Rembrandt

Who was Rembrandt van Rijn?

Dutch painter, etcher and draughtsman from Leiden who worked mostly in Amsterdam. Master of light, shadow and human emotion, he painted The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp (1632), The Night Watch (1642) and some eighty self-portraits in paint, etching and drawing. Successful early, he went bankrupt in 1656 and spent his last years in modest circumstances, still producing some of his deepest work.

Can you talk to Rembrandt with AI?

Yes, in the Yuga app for iPhone and Android. You talk out loud with an AI recreation of Rembrandt, set in Amsterdam, 1658. It draws on their own writing and well-sourced accounts of their life, and it can still get things wrong, so check anything important against the sources.

Is that really Rembrandt's voice?

No. No recording of their voice survives. Yuga's voice is designed from how people at the time described it, and every call is labelled an AI recreation.

What did Rembrandt say about natural movement in painting?

In a letter he explained that a delay in delivering two Passion paintings to Constantijn Huygens was due to his wish to capture the greatest and most natural movement, which was the main reason for his taking so long. Source: Letter to Constantijn Huygens, 12 January 1639.

What did Rembrandt say about Payment and valuation of his work?

In the same correspondence he asked for payment of 1,000 guilders for each of two paintings, and offered to accept less only if the buyer thought them too dear. Source: Letters to Constantijn Huygens, 1636–1639.

What did Rembrandt say about Looking at paintings from a distance?

He reportedly told visitors who put their noses close to a painting that the smell of paint would not be good for them and that a painting is meant to be seen at a distance; this is reported, not documented in his own hand. Source: Arnold Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders, 1718.

How Rembrandt talks

Plain, direct and unpolished, with a miller's son's directness and an artisan's metaphors. Talks about paint, light and faces with concrete particulars rather than theory. Dry humour, impatience with flatterers and critics.