By Schiffmacher & Veldhoen live @ Museum Rembrandthuis
Due to its success in 2023, The Poor Man’s Rembrandt Project is returning to the Rembrandt House Museum! Henk Schiffmacher and his team of tattoo artists will be setting up their studio in Rembrandt’s house from 26 October to 7 November. For two weeks, you can have an original Rembrandt tattoo done by this world-famous team.
Want to be sure of a masterpiece? From 28 September, you can book a time slot. Keep an eye on this page for more information. Tattoo prices range from 100 to 350 euros. A deposit of 50 euros is required when booking. We reserve a number of slots each day for walk-ins, but if you want to be sure of a spot, please book a time slot in advance.
Henk Schiffmacher: ‘Worldwide, more tattoos are sold than works of art to hang on your wall. An old tattoo artist once called tattoos ‘The Poor Man’s Rembrandt’: a work of art that is more affordable than a painting by one of the old masters, but no less carefully executed and selected. Many people also build up a real collection of tattoos from specific tattoo artists. They come to us because they want to add Schiffmacher & Veldhoen to their life-long collection. For us, it is an incredible honour to work in the place where Rembrandt’s soul can still be felt, and to work with his etchings and drawings. Grand and small art coming together.’
Win a free Rembrandt back piece!
To mark the return of The Poor Man’s Rembrandt Project, we’re giving away a FREE Rembrandt back piece. Would you like a tattooed artwork based on a Rembrandt? The Descent from the Cross (1633) will cover the entire back.
A team of tattoo artists from Schiffmacher & Veldhoenen in Amsterdam and St. Catherina in Antwerp will create the tattoo over a series of sessions. We’re looking for someone who’s no stranger to the needle, but who doesn’t yet have any tattoos on their back. You must be available over a number of weeks for a series of tattoo sessions, including 26 October for the opening, and the final session will take place at the Rembrandt House Museum during Museumnacht on 7 November.
Register by 22 September by emailing poormansrembrandt@gmail.com, with the following information: first name and surname, height, age, place of residence, a portrait photo, a photo of your back, and answers to the questions ‘Do you already have tattoos?’ and ‘Why do you want to win this tattoo?’.
Important to note: You must be available on 26 October and 7 November for the start and completion of the tattoo. The tattoo will be done in Amsterdam, alternating between the Rembrandt House Museum and Schiffmacher & Veldhoen. The process will be documented and published.
Rembrandt Forever
Rembrandt and Schiffmacher & Veldhoen have much in common: they are world-famous, masters of their craft and deeply rooted in the DNA of Amsterdam. Their art also has important similarities: with both etchings and tattoos, it all starts with a drawing, which is then applied to the surface with ink and needle. Where Rembrandt used a copper plate and sheet of paper to turn his composition into an etching, tattoo artists apply their drawing to human skin; the end result is a work of art that you carry with you for life.
Schiffmacher and his team will set up their studio in the modern museum wing of Museum Rembrandthuis. In the seventeenth century, the building on the Jodenbreestraat was a cultural hub, where Rembrandt, his assistants and his pupils worked together on their artworks. Now, a new generation of twenty-first-century artists set up their studio here. The museum thus remains a place buzzing with innovation and experiment. At the same time, the centuries-old art of etching and ink drawing are kept alive.
Meet the team
Photography: Texas Schiffmacher
Henk Schiffmacher has been a household name in the tattoo world for 45 years. The Amsterdam ‘tattoo king’ organised the first major tattoo conventions in Europe, has published over 20 books and has exhibited in various museums, including the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris and the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. He regards his long-standing collaboration with the Rembrandt House Museum as a highlight of his career.
Tycho Veldhoen grew up in the art world as the youngest son of the renowned Amsterdam artist Aat Veldoen. It was from him that he learnt to paint, draw and etch. He was taught the art of tattooing by Henk and Louise Schiffmacher, after which he went on to work with various tattoo greats in the United States. He has been an official partner at Schiffmacher & Veldhoen Tattooing for 19 years.
Tycho Veldhoen grew up in the art world, as the youngest son of the well-known Amsterdam artist Aat Veldoen. He learnt to paint, draw and etch from his father. He was taught the art of tattooing by Henk and Louise Schiffmacher, after which he went on to work with various leading tattoo artists in the United States. He has been working as a tattoo artist for 30 years and has been an official partner at Schiffmacher & Veldhoen Tattooing for the past 19 years.
Morrison Cheyenne Schiffmacher has been tattooing since she was 16. She learnt the trade at the Schiffmacher and Veldhoen studio and has built up an international reputation – one that makes her father extremely proud. In 2017, she appeared as a judge on the Dutch TV series *Inkt Masters* and worked for a time in Hollywood at the Spotlight Tattoo Shop.
Rupa van Teylingen is a painter and tattoo artist. He, too, grew up surrounded by art: his father was a writer, his stepfather a specialist in 17th-century still lifes. He graduated from the Ruud Wackers Academy in Amsterdam as a classical draughtsman, after which he began an apprenticeship at Schiffmacher & Veldhoen. Over the past ten years, he has divided his time between the tattoo shop and his own studio.
Frederik Moens lives and works in Antwerp, where he is co-owner of St. Catharina Tattoo, but is a regular at the Schiffmacher & Veldhoen shop in Amsterdam. With a keen interest in the paintings of the Old Masters and traditional crafts, his passion naturally turned to the centuries-old tradition of tattooing.
Olof Arrevik is a Swedish tattoo artist and painter. He began his career as an apprentice at Stockholm Classic Tattoo and subsequently moved to Amsterdam to work with Henk Schiffmacher and his team. Olof has been working full-time at the studio since 2024. Alongside his work as a tattoo artist, he works from his own studio, where he continues to explore painting using various techniques.
Designs
