Rembrandt van Rijn

In Leyden, Holland, the year of 1606, the renowned artist known as Rembrandt van Rign was born. At age seven he began attending grammar school where he studied the classics, Latin, possibly Hebrew, and the Bible. Seven years later Rembrandt's father made plans for sending him to a university. Rembrandt, whose only desire was to paint, refused. From the years 1620 to 1623, Rembrandt studied in Amsterdam under Pieter Lastman. It his Lastman who probably first exposed Rembrandt to Renaissance painting and Christianity as a major theme. This style of painting Christian topics though, was more one of expressing fantastic stories, than teaching the Bible. By age nineteen, Rembrandt began to search for his own style. For the next seven years he painted in a grandiose and lucid technique, painting the stories of Samson, David and Goliath, Judas, and Saint Paul. These works would soon bring him much fame and wealth, but only for as long as he was willing to refrain from the avant-garde.…