Rembrandt's home, Amsterdam

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn is considered the greatest painter of European art and the most important in Dutch art history. Weak areas didn’t exist: with equal mastery he painted portraits, landscapes, animals, biblical and historical scenes. He didn’t just paint but collected and dealt in art. Here I am outside his former home in Amsterdam.

He was child number nine and arty from the start. Aged 14 he had enrolled at university but packed it in to devote himself to painting. By 19 he set up his own studio where he taught students. The money was good but he started earning hefty wads aged 23 when a statesman discovered him and got him some commissions. Aged 25 he moved to Amsterdam where he lived as a painter/art dealer. Amsterdam was growing fast and he worked in the field he was most skilled - as a portraitist. Aged 28 he married Saskia in the local church of St. Annaparochie (for some reason no relatives were present) and rented a house. Money was coming in and he and Saskia got a mortgage and bought this house for 13,000 guilders when he was 33. He struggled financially and it’s thought investments soured.

Tragedy dogged his life. His first son died eight weeks after birth and then their daughter Cornelia died three weeks after birth. A second daughter was born but she only lived five weeks. Their fourth child who was called Titus (born when Rembrandt was 35) was their only child to lived into adulthood. Shortly after the birth his wife Saskia died (probably from tuberculosis or the plague) and Rembrandt found himself a widower at 36.

In his early forties he began a relationship with his former maid Hendrickje Stoffels. They had a daughter and Rembrandt was a dad again at 48. Aged 50 he was so broke he sold lots of his own works (he even sold his wife's grave though I'm not sure what this means.) His canvases didn’t sell for much, bankruptcy couldn't be avoided and he was forced to sell his home.

More tragedy: his partner Hendrickje died and when he was 62 his son died. Rembrandt followed within a year aged 63. Even though he was an atheist he was buried as a pauper under a tombstone in a church in the Westerkerk where his wife was buried. Nobody knows if his remains are still there (three centuries have passed.) In those days it was customary for the remains of paupers to be removed after twenty years. Nor does anyone know how many paintings he completed - between 300 and 2000. Nobody knows why he added the 'd' to his name when signing paintings. He never once left the Dutch Republic. If you look at his paintings you see he hardly ever used bright colours.

It was illuminating to find his house (now a museum.) How many paintings were done here? Being ugly didn't stop him doing about 50 self-portraits. As you'd probably do such a painting at home with mirrors he must have done a few here. I did a salute and left.

His bedroom...