Rembrandt Harmenszoon Van Rijn (Born 1606 in Leiden,Netherlands Died 1669 Amsterdam)

His Father was a Miller,rembrant left the University of Leiden to study painting.
His early work was devouted to showing the lines,light and shade of the people around him.
His work was mainly influenced by Carravagio and other Italian artists,when he didn't have a model,he used himself as an image to paint,it's thought he had between 50 or 60 self portraits,he at times painted himself into the back ground of paintings.

One of his most famous art works was The Night Watch (1642)it actually goes by two names,also know as "The Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytech" it shows a group portrait of a division of the civic guard and in Rembrandts style all the other people around them,and not at a banquet table.

The ironic part of this is,he(rembrandt)never actually got paid for the Commissioned painting,Cocq took one look at it and refused to pay,due to the peasant child with the chicken hanging from her belt and if you look closely the Mongrel Kur (dog)between the drummer and main character in Yellow at the front of the work.
It was rolled upm and never saw the light of day for many years,when it was discovered again it was covered in dirt and dust from being hidden away and was the titled The Night Watch,but someone was given the job to restore the painting it wasn't until then it was found to be covered in dirt and dust and the real name came out.

* the peasant girl is over dressed deliberately,to make her fit into the portrait and because Rembrant was starting to live a better life
then and didn't want to sway from it.also if you look at the back row,on the left is Rembrandt*