2021

Rembrandt (1606-1669) is seen as one of the greatest Dutch Golden Age painters. Was Rembrandt involved in cross-border insolvency matters? Research shows there are traces of commissions coming from outside Holland and indeed, financial distress surrounded him in the first half of the 1650s. In 1656 he went ‘bankrupt’, that is to say, Rembrandt voluntarily (no creditors chasing him) requested… Read More »2021-11-doc2 Was Rembrandt involved in cross-border insolvency issues?

Lidewij de Koekkoek, director of The Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam, received on 15 November 2021 the first copy of my book ‘Rembrandt’s Money. The legal and financial life of an artist-entrepeneur in 17th century Holland’. Via my blog readers have travelled along with my journey with over twenty blogs the last three years (https://bobwessels.nl/tag/rembrandt/) and I am pleased the… Read More »2021-11-doc1 Rembrandt’s Money book – out now!

Since July, every fortnight, I published dribs and drabs from my forthcoming book ‘Rembrandt’s Money’. The legal and financial life of an artist-entrepreneur in 17th century Holland. See https://bobwessels.nl/blog/2021-07-doc6-rembrandts-money-forthcoming/. In that same month I explained what the book covers and what it does not, see https://bobwessels.nl/blog/2021-07-doc10-rembrandts-money-forthcoming-wysiwyg-and-opposite/. Now a short piece on trade law and arbitration. Trade law One of the… Read More »2021-10-doc3 Rembrandt’s Money (nearly there) – Arbitration in his day?

The eye of the financial storm around Rembrandt concerns his ‘bankruptcy’, another episode covered in my forthcoming book ‘Rembrandt’s Money. The legal and financial life of an artist-entrepreneur in 17th century Holland’ (see https://bobwessels.nl/blog/2021-07-doc6-rembrandts-money-forthcoming/ and subsequent blogs since). In July 1656, Rembrandt requested a court to grant him ‘cessio bonorum’. The historic roots and the 17th century meaning of cessio… Read More »2021-10-doc2 Rembrandt’s Money (forthcoming) – Rembrandt’s ‘bankruptcy’

For Rembrandt addicts, 4 October is a prominent date. In the Register of Deaths of the Westerkerk it is recorded: ‘On 4 October 1669 [my] cousin, Rembrant van Rhijn, painter died (‘den 4 8b[er] is overleeden neeff Rembrant van Rhijn schilder’). The date of his passing away is given in a note by a relative of Rembrandt, Nicolaes Sebastiaensz Vinck.… Read More »2021-10-doc1 Rembrandt’s Money (forthcoming) – 4 October, a day to remember

Yet, another theme in my forthcoming book ‘Rembrandt’s Money. The legal and financial life of an artist-entrepreneur in 17th century Holland’ (see https://bobwessels.nl/blog/2021-07-doc6-rembrandts-money-forthcoming/) relates to Saskia Uylenburgh, Rembrandt’s wife. Last month I provided a sketch of the question which law applied to the marriage of Rembrandt and Saskia Uylenburgh? The laws of Friesland or those of Holland? Rembrandt noted in… Read More »2021-09-doc3 Rembrandt’s Money (forthcoming) – Titus and the Orphans Chamber

One of the themes in my forthcoming book ‘Rembrandt’s Money’. The legal and financial life of an artist-entrepreneur in 17th century Holland (see https://bobwessels.nl/blog/2021-07-doc6-rembrandts-money-forthcoming/) relates to the house he lived in since 1639 (with Saskia and with their son Titus since 1641). The building is in the neighbourhood of the Sint Antoniesluis, ie the Breestraat, presently the location of the… Read More »2021-09-doc1 The purchaseprice in 1639 for Rembrandt’s house