Rembrandt Lighting - Origin of Photographic Term

Origin of Photographic Term

Pioneering movie director Cecil B. DeMille is credited with the first use of the term:

DeMille explained in his autobiography that while shooting THE WARRENS OF VIRGINIA (1915), he borrowed some portable spotlights from the Mason Opera House in downtown Los Angeles and “began to make shadows where shadows would appear in nature.” When business partner Sam Goldwyn saw the film with only half an actor’s face illuminated, he feared the exhibitors would pay only half the price for the picture. After DeMille told him it was Rembrandt lighting, “Sam’s reply was jubilant with relief: for Rembrandt lighting the exhibitors would pay double!”

Rembrandt
  • The Stoning of Saint Stephen (1625)
  • Self-Portrait (1629)
  • Andromeda Chained to the Rocks (1631)
  • The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp (1631)
  • Old Man with a Gold Chain (c. 1631)
  • Jacob de Gheyn III (1632)
  • Philosopher in Meditation (1632)
  • The Abduction of Europa (1632)
  • The Storm on the Sea of Galilee (1633)
  • Joseph and Potiphar's Wife (1634)
  • Artemisia (1634)
  • Descent from the Cross (1634)
  • Belshazzar's Feast (1635)
  • The Prodigal Son in the Tavern (c. 1635)
  • Danaë (1636)
  • The Night Watch (1642)
  • Boaz and Ruth (1643)
  • The Woman Taken in Adultery (1644)
  • The Mill (1645–1648)
  • Susanna and the Elders (1647)
  • Hundred Guilder Print (1649)
  • Self-portrait (1652)
  • Aristotle Contemplating a Bust of Homer (1653)
  • Bathsheba at Her Bath (1654)
  • Virgin and Child with a Cat (1654)
  • Self-portrait (1658)
  • Self Portrait with Beret and Turned-Up Collar (1659)
  • Self-portrait (1660)
  • The Three Crosses (1660)
  • Ahasuerus and Haman at the Feast of Esther (1660)
  • The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis (1661)
  • Syndics of the Drapers' Guild (1662)
  • The Jewish Bride (1664)
  • Self Portrait with Two Circles (1665–1669)
  • The Return of the Prodigal Son (1662–1669)
Attribution disputed: The Polish Rider (1655)
Other: Rembrandt lighting

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