Rembrandt van Rijn was a Dutch artist widely regarded as one of the greatest painters in history. His golden-hued depictions of vernacular and Biblical scenes have fascinated art historians for centuries. “A painting is complete when it has the shadows of a god,” he once reflected. Born Rembrandt Harmenszoonon van Rijn on July 15, 1606 in Leiden, Netherlands, Rembrandt apprenticed to a number of masters before opening his first studio sometime between 1624 and 1625. By the time he moved to Amsterdam in 1631, he was a successful portraitist, allowing himself and his wife Saskia to move to the affluent Nieuwe Doelenstraat neighborhood and have four children, only one which survived to adulthood.
Throughout his life, Rembrandt created a series of intimate self-portraits and etchings, documenting his own visage from the age of 22 to the year of his death. He later explored large-scale works, including Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp (1632), The Raising of the Cross (1633), and The Storm on the Sea of Galilee (1663). Despite his initial successes, Rembrandt had financial troubles due to his debts owed to creditors, but was able to continuing painting until death on October 4, 1669 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Today, his works can be seen at the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam, the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Mauritshuis Royal Picture Gallery in The Hague, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the National Gallery in London, among others.