Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669)

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn is certainly the most famous of Holland's seventeenth-century painters. He was born in 1606 in Leiden, the fifth son of the miller Harmen Gerritsz. van Rijn. After attending Latin SchoolLatin SchoolThis was what the schools of the early Middle Ages founded by bishops or monasteries (and later on by municipalities) were called. In these schools the humanities or liberal arts were taught: grammar, rhetoric, oratory, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music. Some of these schools focused on basic reading and writing skills; others offered a kind of secondary education. In the 19th century the Latin School was increasingly replaced by the Gymnasium that also taught Greek; modern languages and the sciences were also taught - subjects that had virtually no place in the curriculum of the Latin School. he registered in 1620 at Leiden University, although he never actually graduated. Rembrandt studied under the Leiden painter Jacob van Swanenburch and under Pieter Lastman in Amsterdam. It was through Lastman that he discovered the powerful contrast of light and dark of Caravaggio and his followers. Back in Leiden he set up together with Jan Lievens as an independent artist, with his own studio and his first pupil: Gerard Dou.