Rembrandt 's major accomplishments were his paintings among them; 'The Apostle Paul,' 'The Nightwatch,' 'Abraham's Sacrifice,' and numerous self portraits. His main reward was fame and for a while money but artists have a habit of mismanaging finances and so Rembrandt end up broke dodgong his creditors. There were no art prizes or such like in his time and so Rembrandt had bragging rights but no trophies.
Here are a few links & words...
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/rem…
""""Rembrandt's prints] brought him fame and no small advantage, in particular through the device of slight changes and small and unimportant additions, which he made on his prints, thanks to which they could be sold again as fresh ones. Nay, the demand was at that time so great that people were not considered true amateurs who did not possess the Juno with and without the crown, the Joseph with the light and the dark head and so on.
Indeed, everyone wanted to have the Woman by the Stove - as it happened, one of his least important etchings - both with and without the stove-key, in spite of the fact that he sold the etching through his son Titus, as if it were too unimportant for himself.
- A. Houbraken describing how Rembrandt pioneered a marketing gimmick which still works today, quoted in the Faber Book of Art Anecdotes. """
http://www.rembrandtpainting.net/
""In contrast to his successful public career, however, Rembrandt's family life was marked by misfortune. Between 1635 and 1641 Saskia gave birth to four children, but only the last, Titus, survived; her own death came in 1642- at the age of 30. Hendrickje Stoffels, engaged as his housekeeper about 1649, eventually became his common-law wife and was the model for many of his pictures. Despite Rembrandt's financial success as an artist, teacher, and art dealer, his penchant for ostentatious living forced him to declare bankruptcy in 1656. An inventory of his collection of art and antiquities, taken before an auction to pay his debts, showed the breadth of Rembrandt's interests: ancient sculpture, Flemish and Italian Renaissance paintings, Far Eastern art, contemporary Dutch works, weapons, and armor. Unfortunately, the results of the auction - including the sale of his house - were disappointing. """
