Woning van Rembrandt te Amsterdam 1834 - 1874

Cornelis Springer rendered this view of Rembrandt’s house in Amsterdam with pencil and watercolor. The setting is dominated by the architecture, specifically the buildings in the foreground and the tower of the Zuiderkerk in the background. Towers, throughout history, have been symbols of aspiration and connection. We see how the tower pierces the sky. It is a motif found in the Tower of Babel and throughout Renaissance art in representations of the Madonna, where it symbolizes the sacred connection between the earthly and divine realms, a conduit of power. Here, in a secular scene, the tower grounds the scene with a similar sense of aspiration, the divine replaced by the heights of human achievement represented by Rembrandt, whose house is the center of the depiction. The artist subtly uses a deeply embedded cultural symbol to elevate the status of the place represented.