Rembrandt House

In front of you is the house where Rembrandt van Rijn lived and worked for nearly twenty years. It was built around 1606, and in 1639 the painter, then Amsterdam's most fashionable portraitist, bought it for 13,000 guilders, a fortune at the time. He never finished paying for it.

1Years of glory and loss

His son Titus was born here in 1641, and his wife Saskia died here the following year. It was also the period in which he completed The Night Watch, in 1642. He worked with pupils in the studio upstairs, and in one room he kept his famous collection: exotic shells, weapons, antique busts, prints by other masters. He collected with passion and spent more than he earned.

In 1656 he was declared insolvent. His creditors had an inventory made of everything in the house, room by room. That document, so sad for him, has been a treasure for historians: thanks to it, the museum that opened here in 1911 has been able to reconstruct the interiors. In 1658 the house was auctioned and Rembrandt moved to a modest home in the Jordaan.

The inventory of his ruin is now the floor plan of the house.

2A mixed neighbourhood

Jodenbreestraat, 'Jews' Broad Street', lay at the heart of the Jewish quarter. Rembrandt had Sephardic neighbours and portrayed members of the community. Many of his biblical figures were inspired by the people he saw in the street.

3What to look out for

• The date ‘1606’ on the façade and the green and red shutters, recalling its 17th-century look.
• The Oudeschans canal behind, which Rembrandt saw every day.
• Waterlooplein, right next door, once the commercial heart of the Jewish quarter.