RembrandtRembrandt van Rijn (16061669) never left his homeland of the Netherlands but in his massive body of painting, drawing, and etching, he changed the course of Western art. His prolific oeuvre encompasses religious, historical, and secular scenes, as well as one of the most extraordinary series of portraits and self portraits in history. Rembrandts work foregrounds texture, light, and acute observation. Like sudden, startling apparitions in a shadowy