REMBRANDT, HARMENSZOON VAN RIJN

(1606/1607–1669)

One of the most famous Dutch painters, with a worldwide reputation and a legacy of hundreds of paintings and etchings and thousands of drawings. Rembrandt made many self-portraits and used his family as models for his historical and biblical figures. In 1639, he moved with his wife Saskia van Uylenburgh (1612–1642) from Leiden to Amsterdam. Their house in the Jodenbreestraat is now a museum. Rembrandt shocked some of his contemporaries with his presently best-known (and biggest) painting The Night Watch (1640–1642) preserved in the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum—because he demon strated the urban militia in a new, unconventional way. Some of his pupils also became famous, including Gerard Dou (1613–1675), Fer dinand Bol (1616–1680), and Carel Fabritius (1622–1654).