"Old Masters fetch a much better price than old mistresses" - Lord Beaverbrook (1879 – 1964)

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The Deluge

“We always knew that, someday, your canvas would be appreciated.” The Night Watch of 1642 began the slow decline in Rembrandt’s fortunes. It was the period when Geertje Dircx who, hired to look after his infant, Titus, put pressure on him to marry her and, eventually, took him to court in 1649 for breach of promise. In settlement, Rembrandt paid Geertje a life pension; this, coinciding with a slowdown of painting commissions, aggravated his already deteriorating financial circumstances. In 1653 under threats of repossession the artist was forced to take out short-term high-interest-bearing loans to pay off the owner of his home. Unable to meet the notes as his various creditors called them in, bailiffs seized his property, including the house, his collection of Old Masters and his own paintings and drawings. In subsequent bankruptcy proceedings the prices realized by the various sales were insufficient to pay off the money he owed. In The Deluge the van Rijn family is experiencing one of the frequent devastating floods that, throughout history, the Dutch population has had to face. In this case the artist is, at least, protected by the waterproof qualities of one of his larger oils, 'The Night Watch' or, 'The Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch'.

are available for book illustrations, annual reports, paper and packaging, giftware, related products. You can license them in the following format: Original transparencies in 6 x 6 cm. (2¼ in.) format, high-resolution RGB drum scans on DVD or efficient and quick E-Mail or FTP upload.