The third Amsterdam period (1643-1650); the turbulent 1640s

Events following the completion of the Night Watch in 1642 as alleged in the Rembrandt literature of the late 19th and early 20th century were central to the growth of a Rembrandt myth. Part of the myth was that the Night Watch was not appreciated by those who had commissioned it and that this was why Rembrandt received no more portrait commissions in the subsequent decade. The death of Rembrandt's wife Saskia in the same year also crucially fed into this myth: these severe blows falling in the same year, it was thought, constituted a turning point in the Rembrandt's life both as a man and as an artist. From an outward-going, happily married man and hightly successful painter he retreated into himself. The alleged failure by the outside world to recognize his mastery led to his art turning inward and becoming correspondingly 'deeper', such that his works from the so-called 'later period' were accorded an almost magical quality. Art historians such as Schmidt Degener (1881-1941), Jacob Rosenberg (1893-1980) and many others have spread this myth in eloquent fashion; it became accepted worldwide. At the same time, Rembrandt's self-portraits were read as documenting the development of Rembrandt's inner life.