Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, born July 15, 1606, Leiden, Netherlands—died October 4, 1669, Amsterdam, was a famous Dutch baroque painter and printmaker. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Rembrandt was not born into an artist family. Rather, he decided on his own to pursue art from an early age. Rembrandt's first teacher, Jacob van Swanenburgh, specialized in architectural scenes and scenes of Hell. It is believed Rembrandt's later affinity for the use of light may have started with learning to paint fire from Swanenburgh. In his early career a young Rembrandt focused on portraits. About 10% of all his works were studies and formal portraits of his own face. The other dominant subject of his works centered around biblical and historical imagery, a subject in high demand during his time. It is likely that his focus on biblical imagery stems from the education he recieved growing up from the Latin School in Leiden, a school focused on biblical studies and classics. This along with his Swanenburgh's own specialty being scenes of Hell, helped develop Rembrandts area of study. Rembrandt's second teacher, Pieter Lastman, specialized in historical scenes contributing to Rembrandt's own historical prowess.
Rembrandt would go on to have a very successful career. He began doing etchings, a form of printmaking, in 1628 which helped further spread his works. The Dutch artist's style would continue to evolve over several well known paintings. He also took on pupils throughout his career with estimated numbers as high as 50 pupils in his lifetime.
After one of his most famous paintings, The Night Watch, Rembrandt's output of work dramatically decreased. He also notably stopped painting portraits for the most part. In his later years, Rembrandt would face personal struggles including his first wife dying and a couple of tumultuous relationships after her death. He faced financial troubles after the Anglo Dutch War and eventually filed for bankruptcy. Despite this, he continued to live comfortably until his death thanks to help from his son and his continued notariety.