We’ve all been heartbroken; we’ve all experienced love and loss. These things are not new and merely writing them down, or singing about them, does not hold any inherent worth.
In 2001, storied Australian musician Paul Kelly found himself in front of a painting. It was a late period Rembrandt – a shadow-swathed portrait of the artist’s mistress, Hendrickje, then ill with the disease that would eventually take her life. Rembrandt loved Hendrickje deeply, but was unable to marry her due to a clause in the wedding contract he had previously signed with his wife, Saskia. Saskia was dead before Rembrandt even met Hendrickje. Some words in a legal document, signed years before, were the only things that made his mistress a mistress.
