Rembrandt van Rijn

(1606 - 1669) A prolific painter, draftsman, and etcher, Rembrandt van Rijn was a major artist of the Dutch Golden Age. He sketched endlessly, taking note of pedestrians, beggars, women, and children enabling him to produce compelling & deeply human portraiture. Having achieved youthful success as a portrait painter, his later years were marked by personal tragedy and financial hardship. His drawings and paintings were popular throughout his lifetime and his reputation as an artist remained high for twenty years - wherein he taught nearly every important Dutch painter. Rembrandt's greatest creative triumphs are exemplified especially in the portraits of his contemporaries, self-portraits, and illustrations of scenes from the Bible. The self-portraits form a unique and intimate biography, in which the artist surveyed himself without vanity and with the utmost sincerity. Today, the artist is represented in the world’s most prestigious collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Louvre, the Rijksmuseum, and the National Gallery in London. At auction, Rembrandt’s paintings have sold for tens of millions, and his etchings have sold for up to seven figures.