Rembrandt van Rijn married Saskia Uylenburgh, the love of his life, in Friesland in 1634. Saske, to give her baptismal name its Frisian form, was born and brought up in Leeuwarden. The famous painter came to know her when Saskia visited her cousin in Amsterdam.
This book sketches a picture of marriage in the time of Rembrandt and Saskia: the most famous married couple Friesland has ever produced. Their story is at the same time the tale of a society marriage in the seventeenth century, from courtship to testaments. What preceded the most crucial step in a person’s life and what would a chic wedding such as theirs have been like? How much was the lasting bond of marriage valued and what was life like after the marriage – for better or for worse?
Touching paintings, precious objects, letters and poems will reveal to you that the meaning of the marriage vows then was not so different to what they mean to us now.
