I'm currently reading Heretics by the Cuban writer Leonardo Padura. The plot centers around a Rembrandt stolen from a Jewish family that tried to flee to Cuba in the 1930s and a big part of the story follows a young Jewish artist that takes up a kind of apprenticeship with Rembrandt. Padura seems to like stories that span many decades and even centuries as in this book.
Anyway, the book does a good job of describing Rembrandt's life even if the story is mostly fiction.
... with a high-resolution scan of the work itself available for download, to boot. I really appreciate whenever museums go out of their way to share those publically! Much better than many paintings only officially available as some 400px thumbnail.
Anyway, the book does a good job of describing Rembrandt's life even if the story is mostly fiction.
As a [former] artist, myself, the thing that comes to mind, is the model must have been in real discomfort, after about 3 minutes.
I also like their tech stack, they let you use your own phone + headphones for the guided tours.
https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/stories/operation-night-watch/...