Get to Know Rembrandt

Those of you who only know Rembrandt as a brand of whitening toothpaste should get to know the very talented artist and portraitist Rembrandt van Rijn, after whom the paste was named. As a matter of fact, he was so famous and successful that his name has pretty much become synonymous with being an artist, which is why you might hear someone gushing about their child's painting, "He's quite the little Rembrandt!"

Rembrandt was born on July 15, in 1606. He died in 1669, and during his somewhat short life, he became one of the most renowned artists of the Renaissance in 17th-century Holland. He is widely regarded as the most important Dutch painter of all time, and is one of the most commonly referred-to artists when speaking of "the Old Masters". He has painted many subjects, but is perhaps best known for his portraits, many of which are self-portraits. His portraits make good use of dramatic lighting and brushwork, and they do not usually feature anything other than the sitter (I hate painting backgrounds, too).

I will be back soon with some fun facts about Rembrandt that you may not have known!

 Rembrandt's self-portrait from Wikimedia Commons en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rembrandt_van_Rijn_-_Self-Portrait_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

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