Rembrandt van Rijn

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606–1669) was a Dutch painter, etcher and draughtsman, one of the great figures of the Golden Age. He was born in Leiden, trained there and briefly in Amsterdam, and moved to Amsterdam in 1631, where he quickly became a successful portraitist. The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp (1632) established his name, and The Night Watch (1642) is his most famous group portrait. Rembrandt was equally celebrated for biblical and historical scenes and for his etchings, such as the Hundred Guilder Print. He painted a remarkable series of self-portraits, around forty by common count, which follow him from youth to old age. His wife Saskia died in 1642, and in 1656 he declared himself insolvent and later lost his house. He ran a busy workshop whose pupils included Ferdinand Bol and Govert Flinck. Rembrandt died in Amsterdam in 1669. About three hundred paintings and a similar number of etchings are attributed to him.