Rembrandt

==Early life and education==
[[File:Latijnse school Lokhorststraat 16 Leiden.jpg|thumb|Latin school at Lokhorststraat 16, Leiden]]

Rembrandt{{efn|This version of his first name, "Rembrandt" with a "d," first appeared in his signatures in 1633. Until then, he had signed with a combination of initials or monograms. In late 1632, he began signing solely with his first name, "Rembrant". He added the "d" in the following year and stuck to this spelling for the rest of his life. Although scholars can only speculate, this change must have had a meaning for Rembrandt, which is generally interpreted as his wanting to be known by his first name like the great figures of the Italian Renaissance: Leonardo, Raphael etc., who did not sign with their last names, if at all.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.rembrandt-signature-file.com/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409172243/http://www.rembrandt-signature-file.com/|title=Rembrandt Signature Files|archive-date=9 April 2016|website=www.rembrandt-signature-file.com}}</ref>}} Harmenszoon van Rijn was born on 15 July 1606 in Leiden,<ref name="BY" /> in the [[Dutch Republic]], now the [[Netherlands]]. He was the ninth child born to Harmen Gerritszoon van Rijn and Neeltgen Willemsdochter van Zuijtbrouck.<ref>Bull, et al., p. 28.</ref> His family was quite well-to-do; his father was a [[miller]] and his mother was a baker's daughter. His mother was [[Catholic]], and his father belonged to the [[Dutch Reformed Church]]. Religion is a central theme in Rembrandt's works and the religiously fraught period in which he lived makes his faith a matter of interest. 

As a boy, he attended a [[Stedelijk Gymnasium Leiden|Latin school]]. In 1620, he was enrolled at the [[University of Leiden]], although he had a greater inclination towards painting and was soon apprenticed to [[Jacob van Swanenburg]], with whom he spent three years.<ref name="Houbraken">{{in lang|nl}} [https://archive.today/20120527043045/http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/houb005groo01_01/houb005groo01_01_0129.htm Rembrandt biography] in ''De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen'' (1718) by [[Arnold Houbraken]], courtesy of the [[Digital library for Dutch literature]]</ref> After a brief but important apprenticeship of six months with the [[history painter]] [[Pieter Lastman]] in Amsterdam, Rembrandt stayed a few months with [[Jacob Pynas]] in 1625, though [[:nl:Simon van Leeuwen|Simon van Leeuwen]] claimed that Rembrandt was taught by [[Joris van Schooten]] and then started his own workshop.<ref name=Houbraken/><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=le9GAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA189 Joris van Schooten as teacher of Rembrandt and Lievens]{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161226043135/https://books.google.com/books?id=le9GAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA189 |date=26 December 2016 }} in Simon van Leeuwen's ''Korte besgryving van het Lugdunum Batavorum nu Leyden'', Leiden, 1672</ref> <!--Unlike many of his contemporaries who traveled to Italy as part of their artistic training, Rembrandt never left the Dutch Republic during his lifetime.<ref>[https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/rembrandt Rembrandt biography] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220010238/https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/rembrandt |date=20 December 2016 }}, nationalgallery.org.uk</ref><ref>Erhardt, Michelle A., and Amy M. Morris. 2012. [https://books.google.com/books?id=MQAzAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA252 ''Mary Magdalene, Iconographic Studies from the Middle Ages to the Baroque''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200308073203/https://books.google.com/books?id=MQAzAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA252&dq= |date=8 March 2020 }}. Boston : Brill. p. 252. {{ISBN|978-90-04-23195-5}}.</ref>-->