“My lord, hang this piece in a strong light, so that one can stand well back from it; then it will sparkle best.”
Rembrandt – hand-painted paintings in oil on canvas
At SvetSlik.si you can order 29 paintings by Rembrandt van Rijn as hand-painted oil reproductions on canvas, painted by our own painters. Every painting comes in several sizes – 152 formats across the gallery, from 50 x 39 cm to 205 x 249 cm – or in a custom size you give us, and prices start at 900 €. Each canvas is painted to order, delivery takes 15 to 45 working days, and before dispatch we send you a photograph of the finished painting for your approval.
Rembrandt rarely wrote about his work: on 12 January 1639 he wrote to Constantijn Huygens, secretary to Prince Frederick Henry of Orange, about two paintings of the Passion series, saying that in them “the greatest and most natural movement” had been observed. From the same series our gallery has The Raising of the Cross and The Adoration of the Shepherds.
Rembrandt’s periods – and what you will find in our gallery
Rembrandt painted biblical scenes, portraits, group portraits and landscapes, always with a light that comes out of the dark. Choose a period first and the painting second.
Leiden (until 1631)
In his home town of Leiden the young Rembrandt painted small, precise paintings on panel. From these years come The Artist in His Studio, where the tiny painter stands far back from a huge canvas, Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem (1630) and Simeon’s Song of Praise (1631), one of the last paintings before his move to Amsterdam.
Success in Amsterdam (the 1630s)
In Amsterdam he quickly became a sought-after portrait painter. In 1632 he painted The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, now in the Mauritshuis in The Hague, and in 1633 his only seascape, The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, stolen in 1990 from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. The same decade gave us Danaë (1636), The Blinding of Samson (1636), Belshazzar’s Feast, The Raising of Lazarus and Stormy Landscape, one of Rembrandt’s rare landscapes.
The Night Watch and the 1640s
In 1642 he finished The Night Watch, today the centrepiece of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. In the same year his wife Saskia died. From the 1640s come The Visitation (1640), Portrait of Agatha Bas (1641), The Adoration of the Shepherds (1646) and The Mill, one of the best-known landscapes in Dutch painting.
The late years (1650–1669)
After his bankruptcy in 1656 Rembrandt painted more broadly, with heavier paint and ever more personally. These are the years of Aristotle with a Bust of Homer (1653, Metropolitan Museum, New York), Bathsheba at Her Bath (1654, Louvre), Portrait of Jan Six (1654), Flora, The Polish Rider (Frick Collection, New York), Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, Christ and the Woman of Samaria (1659) and Syndics of the Drapers’ Guild (1662). At the very end came The Jewish Bride, The Return of the Prodigal Son in the Hermitage, Self-Portrait with Two Circles and Self-Portrait at the Age of 63 from the year of his death. The gallery also has The Flight into Egypt.
The most famous Rembrandt paintings at SvetSlik.si
The best known is The Night Watch. Right after it our customers look for The Return of the Prodigal Son, The Jewish Bride and The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, which are also among the most exhibited works of the Dutch Golden Age.
For the home many choose The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, dramatic and yet bright, and the two self-portraits, Self-Portrait with Two Circles and Self-Portrait at the Age of 63, among the most honest faces in the history of painting.
Which Rembrandt suits which room?
Rembrandt’s paintings are dark, so they need light: hang them next to a window or under a lamp. Above a sofa or a bed, choose a painting about two thirds as wide as the furniture below it; for a three-seater sofa that usually means 120 to 160 cm. Landscape formats such as The Night Watch or Syndics of the Drapers’ Guild work best on the long wall of a living room or dining room.
Upright portraits such as Portrait of Agatha Bas or Flora belong in a hallway, on a narrow wall between two doors or above a chest of drawers. Biblical scenes such as The Adoration of the Shepherds and Simeon’s Song of Praise suit a place of prayer or make a christening gift. Hang the painting so that its centre sits about 150 cm above the floor.
Sizes, prices, custom size, stretcher and frame
Each painting has its own range of sizes, matched to the proportions of the original, and the product page shows the price of every size. Across the gallery there are 152 formats, from 50 x 39 cm to 205 x 249 cm, and prices start at 900 €. If your wall needs a different measurement, send us the width and height: we paint to your own size. We send the painting rolled, stretched on a wooden stretcher bar and ready to hang, or framed.
For the frame, use our 3D application: it shows our frame profiles on the painting you choose, so you can compare gold, silver, black, white and natural wood – the application is for choosing the frame only. If you would like to see how the painting will look on your own wall, that is our separate room placement service. For a gift, a wall art voucher lets the recipient choose the painting and the size.
How do we hand-paint a Rembrandt?
Every painting is painted by hand in oil on canvas, layer by layer, following a high-resolution photograph of the original. With Rembrandt our painter starts from the dark ground and only then builds up the lit faces and hands, the way the master worked. If something in the final photograph is not right, we correct it before dispatch.
Four originals, The Adoration of the Shepherds, The Raising of the Cross, The Visitation and Simeon’s Song of Praise, had to be carried over onto a rectangular canvas; each painting’s page explains how we painted its rounded or cut-off top.
Rembrandt in brief
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was born on 15 July 1606 in Leiden, moved to Amsterdam around 1631 and married Saskia van Uylenburgh. He was hugely successful but went bankrupt in 1656, when his collection was inventoried and sold. He died in Amsterdam on 4 October 1669, leaving some 300 paintings and many drawings and etchings.
Frequently asked questions
Which are Rembrandt’s most famous paintings?
The most famous is The Night Watch (1642) in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, followed by The Return of the Prodigal Son, The Jewish Bride, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp and the self-portraits. All of them are available in our gallery as hand-painted oil paintings.
Why are Rembrandt’s paintings so dark?
Because he used light like a stage: he leaves most of the canvas in darkness and gathers the light on the faces, the hands and whatever matters most in the story. This is called chiaroscuro. That way the eye finds the main action at once.
Where can you see Rembrandt’s original paintings?
Most of them are in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (The Night Watch, The Jewish Bride) and the Mauritshuis in The Hague (The Anatomy Lesson). Other major works are in the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, the National Gallery in London, the Louvre in Paris, the Alte Pinakothek in Munich and the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
How much does a Rembrandt painting cost?
The originals are in museums and almost never come up for sale. A hand-painted copy in oil on canvas from SvetSlik.si starts at 900 €, depending on the painting and the size you choose. It is a real painting, not a print.
What did Rembrandt mean by “the most natural movement”?
That is how he described two paintings of the Passion series for Prince Frederick Henry in a letter to Constantijn Huygens in 1639. He wanted bodies and feelings to look as true as possible, which you can also see in The Raising of the Cross from the same series.
Which size should I choose?
Measure the furniture below the wall and choose a painting about two thirds of its width: above a three-seater sofa that is usually 120 to 160 cm, above a desk or in a hallway 50 to 70 cm. Every painting’s page lists all its sizes with their prices, and if none fits, we paint your own measurements.
Do you have his self-portraits too?
Yes, the gallery has the Self-Portrait with Two Circles and the Self-Portrait at the Age of 63 from 1669. Rembrandt painted himself more than forty times, which makes the self-portraits a favourite gift for art lovers.
How long does delivery take, and can I order a custom size?
Each painting is painted to order, so delivery takes 15 to 45 working days, depending on the size. A custom size is possible for every painting, and before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished painting.