Today’s selfie culture doesn’t know much about art, that’s for sure. However, for those few that are actually keen about learning a little more about how selfies were made back in the day, here’s an article about Rembrandt Van Rijn, probably the best self-portraits master in the history of painting.
Yes, before selfies existed, people painted. They were doing it on canvas and with all kinds of different techniques. Rembrandt was born in 1606. This was more than 400 years before us. Can you imagine how life was back then? No internet, of course, no electricity, no machines of any kind. The technology and science were on a very low level, but this didn’t stop people from showing they were geniuses in what they had as talent.
Even today, Rembrandt is one of the most desired painters for many art lovers. He is considered the best visual artist that ever lived. His sense for portraits was beyond imaginable for the time, and today he’s still the greatest that ever lived in this field of art. Want to know more about him, click this link.
Aside from being a genius, Rembrandt influenced so many artists after him. The Baroque had its own artistic rules but Rembrandt kind of set his own ones being ahead of the time. That’s why even today his paintings are live on market and cost a lot of money. His two-piece portrait of MaertenSoolmans and OopjenCoppit is the 8th most expensive painting ever sold on this planet. It was sold for an impressive 190 million US dollars in 2015. Of course, a lot of the portraits practically has no price and they are unable to be sold because their owners treat them as precious and the chance for owning them is somewhat a gift from the universe.
Knowing that almost all of Rembrandt’s work is impossible to own, a lot of passionate lover of his paintings find another way to have them on the walls. They choose reproductions. If you think that a reproduction can never be the same as the original, you’re right, but having the Man in a golden Helmet in your living room is a true pleasure if you’re an art lover.
However, not everyone can make a good reproduction. The reproduction process is made from scratch and there’s no copying of any kind. Professional experienced painters are doing it with all details as the original used to be done. Here’s a link to a professional art studio where Rembrandt Van Rijn reproductions look amazing and you often can’t even tell the difference between the original and the reproduction.
The Self Portraits
We call Rembrandt the selfie master from the 17th century because he has so many self-portraits at different ages. You know how scrolling down on social networks can reveal how we changed over time? Well, it’s the same with Rembrandt who has self-portraits from a young age until the age of 66 when he died.
He was such a good painter that all details on his face can be seen as they were happening. You can see the young and frightening look in his eyes when he was in the early ’20s. Then the passionate lover attitude in the late ’20s. It’s also interesting to see the quick transformation into a serious gentleman in his 30’s and become a classic old person into his 50’s and 60’s.
To own all of his self-portraits in original, you’ll probably need a couple of trillion USD, if you convince everyone to sell. In other words, this is impossible even for the most wealthy and powerful people on the planet. That’s why many art lovers have a collection of reworks in their homes with all the Rembrandt’s self-portraits. Aside from the art, it’s really coolto see the timeline of his growing up and getting old. Here’s a place where you can see all his self-portraits: https://www.wga.hu/html_m/r/rembrand/27self/index.html
Conclusion
If you’re one of the millions around the world taking a selfie a day, please remember that it wasn’t invented in the 2010s. Even Rembrandt isn’t the inventor, he just mastered the art of taking a selfie. Even if it took weeks and months to make one. When you click that button on your Smartphone, be grateful for the technology as it wasn’t so easy making one before.
