Introduction: Rembrandt's Name

Raphael's and Michelangelo's names, which allegedly expressed the ‘angelic’ character of their works, may have reflected an element of their ambitions in self-fashioning, in a more pretentious manner than that by which Tintoretto's name stood merely for his dexterity with paints. North of the Alps, these Italians may in turn have been an example for Peter Paul Rubens, whose own last name could be derived from the Latin verb ‘rubere’, literally meaning being red or, more figuratively, blushing. The name ‘Rubens’ may have come to stand for a specific manner of brushwork, connected to the self-image the artist wanted to project: perhaps he focused on rosy flesh tints as one of his trademarks.

Like his predecessors who were known by their first names, the master from the Jodenbreestraat signed simply with ‘Rembrandt’. This essay explores a possible background for his choice. The name was idiosyncratic in the seventeenth century; an old Germanic word, Rembrandt meant ‘regal sword’. This article will suggest that when the artist highlighted his first name, he probably had his presumed Batavian forefathers in mind. This was not dissimilar to his pupil Samuel van Hoogstraten, who carried the nickname ‘The Batavian’, identifying him as descendant of the local tribe that had inhabited the Low Countries during the Roman occupation.