Rembrandt van Rijn

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (July 15, 1606 – October 4, 1669) is a Dutch painter and etcher.

He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art history and the most important in Dutch history.

His contributions to art came in a period that historians call the Dutch Golden Age.

Having achieved youthful success as a portrait painter, his later years are marked by personal tragedy and financial hardships.

Yet his etchings and paintings are popular throughout his lifetime, his reputation as an artist remained high, and for twenty years he teaches nearly every important Dutch painter.

Rembrandt's greatest creative triumphs are exemplified especially in his portraits of his contemporaries, self-portraits and illustrations of scenes from the Bible.

His self-portraits form a unique and intimate biography, in which the artist surveys himself without vanity and with the utmost sincerity.

In both painting and printmaking he exhibits a complete knowledge of classical iconography, which he molds to fit the requirements of his own experience; thus, the depiction of a biblical scene is informed by Rembrandt's knowledge of the specific text, his assimilation of classical composition, and his observations of Amsterdam's Jewish population.

Because of his empathy for the human condition, he has been called "one of the great prophets of civilization."

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