Als Rembrandts Hab und Gut nach seiner Privatinsolvenz 1656 versteigert wurde, waren darunter laut den überlieferten Listen nur fünf Bücher. Gary Schwartz kann das nicht gelten lassen:

The notion that these were the only books Rembrandt owned is to my mind completely out of the question. More than any artist of his age, Rembrandt lived among poets and playwrights. He was praised by Philips Angel for his erudition, specifically for his close reading. All his life he was engaged passionately with the narrative and historical aspects of his craft. No attribute occurs more commonly in his portraits than the book. No genre subjects attracts him more than the reader. His years in the Latin School and his early contacts with Leiden humanists and with Constantijn Huygens must have brought with them a respect for the book and, for a man with Rembrandt’s collecting instincts, a desire to own them. His training with Pieter Lastman could only have intensified this. Lastman’s inventory included „about 150 books“. Would his pupil owned fewer? In my picture of Rembrandt, this is inconceivable. I count Rembrandt’s library among the missing items in the inventory.

Gary Schwartz: The Rembrandt Book S. 138