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Chronology 1651-1669

1652	Rembrandt's brother Adriaen (born 1597), a miller in Leiden, is buried on 19 October. The artist makes a drawing for the album amicorum of the Amsterdam patrician Jan Six (1618-1700), with the inscription: 'Rembrandt aen [to] Joanus Six. 1652'.
1653	On 1 February, Rembrandt receives a hefty bill for arrears of payment for the house he bought in SintAnthonisbreestraat in 1639. He borrows, in succession, 4,180 guilders from the former alderman Cornelis Witsen, 1,000 guilders from Jan Six, and 4,200 guilders from Isaack van Hertsbeeck. This appears to be sufficient to pay off his debts, but his financial problems get worse. Rembrandt paints Aristotle with the Bust of Homer (New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art) for the Sicilian nobleman Don Antonio Ruffo (1610-78).
1654	Hendrickje is summoned to appear before the council of the Reformed Congregation on 25 June, 2 July and 16 July for'practising whoredom with the painter Rembrandt'. On 23 July she admits to her relationship with Rembrandt. On 30 October, Cornelia, an illegitimate daughter, is baptised in the Oude Kerk. Like the two daughters who died young, she is named after Rembrandt's mother. Rembrandt tries to buy a house in Handboogstraat, but fails to secure a loan. Rembrandt paints the Portrait of Jan Six (Amsterdam, Six Collection).
1655	Geertje Dircx is released from the Gouda house of correction on 31 May. The 14-year-old Titus van Rijn makes his father his universal heir, thereby excluding the family of his mother Saskia.
1656	On 14 July, Rembrandt applies to the High Court of Holland for cessio bonorum (voluntary surrender of effects to one's creditors). He attributes his financial problems to 'losses suffered in business as well as damages and losses at sea'. His art business was doing badly, in other words, and he had been speculating. The case is assigned to the Amsterdam Commissioners of Bankruptcy in the Town Hall. An inventory is made of Rembrandt's possessions, including his impressive art collection, on 25 and 26 July. The sale of many treasures has been under way for some time. In December 1655 and January 1656, Rembrandt held sales of works from his collection in the Keizerskroon Inn Amsterdam. He continues to borrow money. The letter of cession is awarded on 8 August. The first public auction takes place before 12 September. Rembrandt paints The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Jan Deijman (surviving fragment in Amsterdam, Amsterdams Historisch Museum).
1657	On 27 june,'Rembrandt's likeness d Vantique', an unidentifiable self portrait, is valued at 150 guilders . One of his history paintings fetches ten times as much.
1658	The sale of Rembrandt's possessions continues. The house in Sint-Anthonisbreestraat is distrained and sold on 1 February. In May, Rembrandt, Hendrickje, Titus and Cornelia move to a rented house in Rozengracht (now no. 184) in the Jordaan district of Amsterdam, opposite the Nieuwe Doolhof (the maze). Rembrandt paints himself seated in state like a monarch. In an etched self portrait of 1658 we see the artist at work as an etcher. It is his last self portrait in this medium.
1659	On 7 October, Rembrandt gives his son Titus power of attorney to act for him in 'petty matters'. Arent de Gelder is supposed to have become Rembrandt's last pupil in or after 1659, although he may have entered the artist's studio as late as 1662 to 1664.
1660	On 15 December, Hendrickje and Titus transfer the company and trade in paintings, graphic art, engravings and woodcuts'to their names, thus relieving Rembrandt of all financial control. He can continue to paint, but must leave business matters to them. Hendrickje Stoffels makes Titus her universal heir in her will of 7 August. Rembrandt is given the usufruct. A document drawn up on 20 0ctober calls Hendrickje'the wife of Mr. Rembrandt van Rijn, art painter', although they have not married.
	The biographer Cornelis de Bie (1627-after 1711) praises not only Rembrandt's paintings 'which enlighten every mind', but also his etchings:'It is the very soul of life that lives therein'. Rembrandt paints himself as the apostle Paul.
1662	Rembrandt sells Saskia's grave on 27 October. He paints The Sampling Officials of the Amsterdam Drapers'Guild (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum), and receives major commissions for portraits and other works, some from the extremely wealthy Trip family.
1663	Hendrickje Stoffels is buried in a rented grave in Amsterdam's Westerkerk (West Church) on 24 July, probably a victim of the plague.
1664	The painter Christiaen Dusart (1618-82) is appointed guardian of Cornelia van Rijn on 21 July. Her father, Rembrandt, is described as 'hale and hearty, 'in full use of his mind, memory and speech'. The learned Swiss monk, Gabriel Bucelimis (1599-1681), notes in his diary that Rembrandt is'the miracle of our age (Rimprant, nostrae aetatis miraculum)'.
1665	Titus van Rijn proudly declares to a Leiden notary on 21 March:'Yes, my father cuts [etches] very skilfully'. On 19 June, Titus van Rijn applies for and is awarded veniam aetatis (legal maturity).
1666	On 18 November, Titus is appointed Rembrandt's legal agent.
1667	On 29 December, Cosmic, de'Medici (1642-1723) calls on Rembrandt, who is described as'pittore famoso (famous painter)'in his travel journal. It later transpires that the Italian Grand Duke owns one of the painter's self portraits.
1668	Titus van Rijn marries Magdalena van Loo (1642-69) on 28 February. In 1659, her father, the silversmith Jan van Loo declared in a deposition that he and his wife'had been very close friends of the aforesaid Rembrandt van Rijn and his late wife, Saskia van Uylenburgh'. On 7 September, shortly before his twenty-seventh birthday, Titus is buried in the Westerkerk in Amsterdam.
1669	Titia van Rijn, Rembrandt's granddaughter and goddaughter, is baptised in the Nieuwezijds Chapel on 22 March, six months after the death of her fatherTitus. Rembrandt paints three self portraits in the last year of his life. On 2 October, Rembrandt is visited by the amateur genealogist Pieter van Brederode (1631-97), who makes a record of antiquities and curios in his collection. Rembrandt dies on 4 October. He is buried in an anonymous rented grave in Amsterdam's Westerkerk on 8 October.