Joachim von Sandrart 1675- 9
“He asserted that one should let oneself be guided by nature alone and by no other law.”
Roger de Piles 1699
"All one finds (in Rembrandt) is what the character of his country, filtered through a vivid imagination, is capable of producing [...] he had a wonderful talent for reproducing concrete subjects [...] he said himself that his art was the imitation of nature”
Arnold Houbraken 1718-20
Rembrandt ”was indeed faithful to the principle that one must follow only nature anything else was worthless in his eyes [...] he had a vast number of pupils - each of whom paid him one hundred florins a year” NB. Pupils who paid him – not workshop assistants who would have been paid by him.