林布兰(1606～1669年)
Rembrandt (Harmenszoon) van Rijn
荷兰画家和蚀刻画家。莱顿富裕的磨坊主之子，从当地大师学习并到阿姆斯特丹当学徒。他的早期作品呈现出光影的聚光效果，这种效果後来支配着晚期作品。1631年迁居阿姆斯特丹後，很快成为当时最时髦的肖像画家，1632年接受委托绘制闻名的《尼古莱.杜尔普博士的解剖学课》。冀望被承认为《圣经》及神话画家，1635年他做出《献祭以撒》，1636年完成无可争议的杰作《达奈》。1634年他娶了富有的莎斯基亚为妻，到1642年他已为她画出许多柔情的肖像。同年莎斯基亚死去，他也完成最大的绘画--超凡而具有争议性的《民兵》。《夜巡》是他生命和艺术的分水岭。此後他的肖像委托大减，他逐渐转向蚀刻画及圣经题材。他的《基督在艾摩斯》（1648）为他晚年灵性的静态尊严及高贵立下典范。1656年在把大部分财产过继给儿子後，他申请破产。在最後十年，他把圣经人物和许多自画像处理得像肖像，许多这些绘画造出一个时间静止的宁静、深沈世界。他的绘画特点是笔触华丽、颜色丰富、明暗对比熟练。静默的人物（林布兰的主题）有助於让人感到观者与图画之间的共鸣，也是林布兰伟大和受欢迎的基础。
English version：
1606～1669年
Rembrandt (Harmenszoon) van Rijn
Dutch painter and etcher. The son of a prosperous miller in Leiden, he was apprenticed to masters there and in Amsterdam. His early works show the spotlight effects of light and shadow that were to dominate his later works. After moving to Amsterdam in 1631, he quickly became the city's most fashionable portrait painter, and in 1632 he was commissioned to paint the celebrated Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp. Yearning for recognition as a biblical and mythological painter, in 1635 he produced his Sacrifice of Isaac and in 1636 the unconventional masterpiece Dana?. In 1634 he had married Saskia van Uylenburgh, a woman of property, and until 1642 he painted many tender pictures of her. That year, when Saskia died and he completed his largest painting, the extraordinary but controversial The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq (known as The Night Watch), was a watershed in his life and art. His portrait commissions thereafter declined and he turned increasingly to etchings and biblical subjects. His Christ at Emmaus (1648) exemplifies the quiet dignity and vulnerability of his later spirituality. In 1656, after transferring most of his property to his son, he applied for bankruptcy. In his last decade he treated biblical subjects like portraits, and also did a wealth of self-portraits; many of these paintings evoke a timeless world of quiet, deep emotion. His paintings are characterized by luxuriant brushwork, rich color, and a mastery of chiaroscuro. The silent human figure, Rembrandt's central subject, contributes to the sense of a shared dialogue between viewer and picture, the foundation of Rembrandt's greatness and of his popularity today.