Question: What did Rembrandt seek to achieve through his art?
About the article "Rembrandt", section "Works".

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In a letter to Huygens, Rembrandt offered the only surviving explanation of what he sought to achieve through his art: "the greatest and most natural movement", translated from "de meeste en de natuurlijkste beweegelijkheid".
The word "beweechgelickhijt" is also argued to mean "emotion" or "motive."
Whether this refers to objectives, material or otherwise is open to interpretation; either way, critics have drawn particular attention to the way Rembrandt seamlessly melded the earthly and spiritual.
Earlier 20th century connoisseurs claimed Rembrandt had produced over 600 paintings, nearly 400 etchings and 2,000 drawings.
More recent scholarship, from the 1960s to the present day (led by the Rembrandt Research Project), often controversially, has winnowed his oeuvre to nearer 300 paintings.
His prints, traditionally all called etchings, although many are produced in whole or part by engraving and sometimes drypoint, have a much more stable total of slightly under 300.
It is likely Rembrandt made many more drawings in his lifetime than 2,000, but those extant are more rare than presumed.
Two experts claim that the number of drawings whose autograph status can be regarded as effectively "certain" is no higher than about 75, although this is disputed.
The list was to be unveiled at a scholarly meeting in February 2010.
At one time about ninety paintings were counted as Rembrandt self-portraits, but it is now known that he had his students copy his own self-portraits as part of their training.
Modern scholarship has reduced the autograph count to over forty paintings, as well as a few drawings and thirty-one etchings, which include many of the most remarkable images of the group.
Some show him posing in quasi-historical fancy dress, or pulling faces at himself.
His oil paintings trace the progress from an uncertain young man, through the dapper and very successful portrait-painter of the 1630s, to the troubled but massively powerful portraits of his old age.
Together they give a remarkably clear picture of the man, his appearance and his psychological make-up, as revealed by his richly weathered face.
In his portraits and self-portraits, he angles the sitter's face in such a way that the ridge of the nose nearly always forms the line of demarcation between brightly illuminated and shadowy areas.
A Rembrandt face is a face partially eclipsed; and the nose, bright and obvious, thrusting into the riddle of halftones, serves to focus the viewer's attention upon, and to dramatize, the division between a flood of light—an overwhelming clarity—and a brooding duskiness.
In a number of biblical works, including "The Raising of the Cross", "Joseph Telling His Dreams" and "The Stoning of Saint Stephen", Rembrandt painted himself as a character in the crowd.
Durham suggests that this was because the Bible was for Rembrandt "a kind of diary, an account of moments in his own life.
"Among the more prominent characteristics of Rembrandt's work are his use of chiaroscuro, the theatrical employment of light and shadow derived from Caravaggio, or, more likely, from the Dutch Caravaggisti, but adapted for very personal means.
Also notable are his dramatic and lively presentation of subjects, devoid of the rigid formality that his contemporaries often displayed, and a deeply felt compassion for mankind, irrespective of wealth and age.
His immediate family—his wife Saskia, his son Titus and his common-law wife Hendrickje—often figured prominently in his paintings, many of which had mythical, biblical or historical themes.
Gabriel Allon and his team seek a lost Rembrandt whose previous owners have included both Holocaust victims and terrorists.
In additional to regularly recurring characters, Julian Isherwood in his role as a gallery owner features prominently.  
"Belshazzar's Feast" is a painting by Rembrandt.
Its source comes from the story of Belshazzar and the writing on the wall in the Old Testament Book of Daniel.
It is held in the The National Gallery, London.
The painting is an attempt to establish Rembrandt as a painter of large, baroque history paintings.
The figures in "Belshazzar's Feast" are not attractive but they are shown realistically: Rembrandt has tried to capture the moment at which the banqueters stare, in amazement and terror, at the mysterious hand.
The people have wrinkles and other blemishes which show that Rembrandt did not paint perfection.
He liked the audience to see the eyes of the figures to reinforce the mood of the painting.
This is apparent if the audience looks closely in "Belshazzar's Feast" at the central figure of the King of Babylon and the queen sitting next to him.
They have a look of surprise and the detail around the eyes reinforces this notion.
The mood of the painting is alarm and surprise.
This is shown through Rembrandt's distinctive manipulation of light and shadow by means of altering the texture, potency, direction of stroke subtly achieve the desired mood.
This is called Chiaroscuro.
Light and shadows play a significant role in developing the mood of "Belshazzar's Feast" especially around the hand that writes on the wall and the reflection of King Belshazzar's royal cloak.
The shadows are used to hide the unnecessary or distracting details and light is used to illuminate the faces of the figures.
The materials used for "Belshazzar's Feast" were oil on canvas and this allowed Rembrandt to manipulate the paint to create defined shadows, light, atmosphere, motion and mood.
Signs and symbols are used to subtly convey the morals and biblical message across to the audience.
The hand that is writing the message on the wall is male.
This hand clearly represents the Almighty God.
The vessel that has been tipped over is a Holy Communion cup which represents the blasphemy that took place at the feast.
The gold which is reflecting off the royal cloak that the king is wearing epitomizes the wealth of the Kingdom of Babylon.
The composition of this artwork shows evidence of planned organisation.
This is apparent in the placement of the figures and the use of light so that the eye of the audience is drawn towards the writing on the wall then the central figure of King Belshazzar.
The light illuminating from the writing on the wall seems to reflect off the eyes of the figures, the king's cloak and the vessels.
Observers in the painting are shown in varying degrees and facing different direction yet looking at the same point in the top right hand corner.
Rembrandt emphasized the dramatic posture of King Belshazzar.
Aesthetic principles are a significant component of this art work.
The texture on the faces of the figures is used to make the scene more realistic.
Warm vibrant colours and the use of diaphanous light are also used to create a lifelike effect.
These aesthetic principles distinguish Rembrandt art workRembrandt lived in the Jewish Quarter of Amsterdam and "derived the form of Hebrew inscription from a book by his friend, the learned Rabbi and printer, Menasseh ben Israel, yet mistranscribed one of the characters and arranged them in columns, rather than right to left, as Hebrew is written."
This last detail may be a reference to a Jewish tradition that the words were unintelligible to any but Daniel because they were written vertically.
(Other explanations have also been offered as to why the Babylonians were unable to read words in their own language.)
"Raising of Lazarus" was owned by Rembrandt for most of his life; it was sold in his bankruptcy sale in 1656.
It was inventoried as being hung in Rembrandt’s anteroom.
The painting passed through various owners in Europe until it was bought by Howard F. Ahmanson, Sr. in 1959 and then donated to the LA County Museum of Art. 
Saskia was born in Leeuwarden, the youngest of the eight children of Sjoukje Ozinga and Rombertus van Uylenburgh, a top lawyer, a town burgomaster, and one of the founders of the University of Franeker.
Saskia (called Saske in Friesland) was orphaned by age 12, as her mother died in 1619 and her father five years later.
Supposedly she met Rembrandt at the home of her uncle, Hendrick van Uylenburgh, a painter and art dealer who had emigrated from Friesland to Kraków in Poland with his parents but decided in 1625 to move to the Dutch Republic, where there was growing tolerance after the death of Maurice of Orange.
Saskia was raised by her sister Hiskje and her husband, Gerard van Loo, a lawyer and secretary in the grietenij Het Bildt.
For a while she lived in Franeker when her sister Antje was ill. After Antje's burial, Saskia assisted her brother-in-law, the Polish theology professor Johannes Maccovius, until she married Rembrandt in 1634.
In 1631 and in the company of the Mennonite painters Govert Flinck and Jacob Backer, Saskia traveled to Amsterdam.
There she met Rembrandt, who produced paintings and portraits for Uylenburgh's Amsterdam clients.
In turn Rembrandt travelled to Leeuwarden, where he was received by the painter Wybrand de Geest, who had married Saskia's niece, Marina WattsSaskia and Rembrandt were engaged in 1633, and on 10 June 1634 Rembrandt asked permission to marry in Sint Annaparochie.
He showed his mother's written consent to the schepen.
On 2 July the couple married.
The preacher was Saskia's cousin, but evidently none of Rembrandt's family attended the marriage.
That Saskia fell in love with an artist who was socially no match for the daughter of a patrician and that she pressed for a speedy betrothal against all conventions certainly shows that she was a very strong and independent character.
In 1635 the couple moved to one of the most desirable addresses in Amsterdam, the Nieuwe Doelenstraat, with prominent neighbors and a view of the river Amstel.
Rembrandt gained financial success through his artwork, and decided in 1639 to buy a house in the Jodenbreestraat, next to the place where he worked.
A year before, by July 16, 1638, Saskia's Friesian relatives complained that Saskia was spoiling her inheritance.
Rembrandt asked his brother-in-law Ulricus van Uylenburgh, also a lawyer, to help them out, confirming he was successful and able to pay for the house.
Three of their children died shortly after birth and were buried in the nearby Zuiderkerk.
The sole survivor was Titus, who was named after his mother's sister Titia (Tietje) van Uylenburgh.
Saskia died the year after he was born, aged 29, probably from tuberculosis.
She was buried in the Oude Kerk.
For ten years Rembrandt focused on drawings and etchings.
Saskia allowed Rembrandt to use their son's inheritance as long as he did not remarry.
If Titus died without issue, Rembrandt would be the heir of the moveable property.
Rembrandt hired Geertje Dircx as a wetnurse; in 1649 she expected him to marry her.
The next year Rembrandt had her locked up in a house of correction when Hendrickje Stoffels became his new housekeeper and mistress.
In 1662 Rembrandt, having been in financial trouble for several years, sold Saskia's grave.
Hendrickje died the following year.