Rembrandt House Museum

The Rembrandt House is the most intimate way to meet the greatest painter of the Dutch Golden Age, and after the Rijksmuseum it is the art visit we recommend most in Amsterdam. Rembrandt van Rijn bought this handsome house on the Jodenbreestraat in 1639, when he was the most fashionable portrait painter in the city, and he lived and worked here for almost twenty years. He paid far more than he could really afford, fell behind on the mortgage and in 1656 was declared insolvent; his possessions were listed room by room for the creditors and the house was sold. That bankruptcy inventory is the reason the museum is so convincing today. Curators used it to refurnish the rooms with period pieces matching the descriptions, so you walk through the entrance hall hung with paintings for sale, the living room with its box bed, the kitchen in the basement, and up the steep stairs to the great studio where he painted, with its north light and easels, and the cabinet of art where he kept shells, busts, weapons, stuffed animals and prints that turn up in his work. The house opened as a museum in 1911, and a modern wing next door holds exhibitions and the museum's remarkable collection of his etchings, the largest anywhere, shown in rotation because the paper is fragile. What makes the visit lively is the demonstrations: museum staff regularly show how etchings were printed on a press like Rembrandt's and how paint was made by grinding pigments with oil. You will not see The Night Watch here, but you will understand the man who painted it far better.

Why go: the Rijksmuseum shows you Rembrandt's masterpieces, but the house shows you how a seventeenth-century artist actually lived and earned his keep. The ground floor was effectively a showroom and a family space; the upper floors were the business, with a large studio for the master, a smaller one where his pupils worked and a tiny print room. Standing in the studio, it is easy to picture sitters climbing the stairs for their portraits, and the cabinet of curiosities explains the turbans, armour and exotic props in so many of his paintings. Temporary exhibitions in the modern wing often place Rembrandt beside his pupils, his contemporaries or later artists inspired by him, and they are usually excellent. The etchings are the hidden treasure: he was as innovative a printmaker as he was a painter, and seeing them up close is a revelation.

Visiting well: tickets are timed, so book ahead in busy seasons, and include the audio or multimedia guide, which brings each room to life with stories from Rembrandt's household. Allow time to wait for the next etching or paint-making demonstration; they are short and fascinating, and children love the moment the print is pulled from the press. The historic house has narrow, steep staircases, and space in the smaller rooms is tight when groups are inside, so mornings are calmer. Accessibility is better in the modern wing than in the historic house, so ask the museum about routes if steps are a problem. Large bags and backpacks go in lockers.

Around the house: the museum stands at the edge of the old Jewish quarter, and its doorstep is one of the most interesting corners of the city. The Waterlooplein flea market is next door, the Jewish Cultural Quarter with the Portuguese Synagogue and the Jewish Museum is a few minutes away, and the Hortus Botanicus and the Plantage are just beyond. Walk the other way along the Zwanenburgwal and the Groenburgwal, one of the prettiest small canals in Amsterdam, towards the Nieuwmarkt and its weigh house, then continue to Our Lord in the Attic and the Oude Kerk. Nieuwmarkt and Waterlooplein metro stops are a short walk, and trams run along the Jodenbreestraat. A morning here and an afternoon at the Rijksmuseum makes a perfect Rembrandt day.