An important subject for artists in almost any culture is the human face and figure. What is it that sums up a person, that is the essence of personality or importance? When artists represent human beings, they may be saying something about themselves, about those they know well, or simply about what it is to be a person. Do they need to show exactly what a person looks like? Might they show where a man or woman lives or what they do for a living? How do they tell us what a person is thinking or feeling?

In this painting, Rembrandt shows us what it was like to be a young painter in Holland in the 1600s.

The Artist

Rembrandt was about twenty-two and still living in Leiden, where he grew up, when he painted this small painting. After his early schooling, he was apprenticed in his mid-teens to a local painter. Later, he spent six months in Amsterdam studying with Pieter Lastman, an accomplished artist known for his dramatic Biblical scenes. Rembrandt returned to Leiden to begin his career, but in a very few years, he had achieved enough renown to move to Amsterdam, the largest city in the Netherlands.

Unlike most painters of his day, Rembrandt did not specialize--he painted portraits, scenes from history, the Bible, daily life, and even a few landscapes. He made etchings as well as paintings. And in all of his works, he showed a great freshness of observation, a subtle feeling for human psychology, and an ability to use his materials very expressively.

Dutch Artists in the Seventeenth Century

The seventeenth century in the Netherlands brought great opportunities for painters, but also great challenges. Merchants and bankers in cities like Amsterdam were making their fortunes through worldwide trade--bringing spices and exotic goods from the Indies and...