A report on Amsterdam and Rembrandt

The four largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht.

The "Dutch Masters", spanning this 17th century era, included Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer, Jan Steen, and Jacob van Ruisdael.

Many of those moving north settled in Amsterdam, transforming what was a small harbor into one of the most important ports and commercial centres in the world by 1630.

One subject that is quite characteristic of Dutch Baroque painting is the large group portrait, especially of civic and militia guilds, such as Rembrandt van Rijn's Night Watch.

Spinoza was raised in the Spanish-Portuguese-Jewish community in Amsterdam.

His teachers also included the less traditional Rabbi Manasseh ben Israel, "a man of wide learning and secular interests, a friend of Vossius, Grotius, and Rembrandt".

Artists flourished under this regime, including painters such as Rembrandt, Johannes Vermeer and many others.

Later, a court ruled that the company had to reside legally in a single city, so Amsterdam is recognized as the oldest such institution based on modern trading principles.

Leiden is located on the Oude Rijn, at a distance of some 20 km from The Hague to its south and some 40 km from Amsterdam to its north.

One of the world's most famous painters, Rembrandt, was born and educated in Leiden.

With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam.

The Hague has its share of museums, most notably the Mauritshuis, located next to the Binnenhof, which exhibits many paintings by Dutch masters, such as Johannes Vermeer, Rembrandt van Rijn and Paulus Potter.

The Rijksmuseum is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam.

The museum has on display 8,000 objects of art and history, from their total collection of 1 million objects from the years 1200–2000, among which are some masterpieces by Rembrandt, Frans Hals, and Johannes Vermeer.

The Rembrandt House Museum (Museum Het Rembrandthuis) is a museum located in a former house in the Jodenbreestraat, in the center of Amsterdam.

Between 1639 and 1658, the house was occupied by the well-known Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn, who also had his studio and art dealership there.

Although his surviving work is rare, it displays Rembrandt's influence; like his master, Bol favored historical subjects, portraits, numerous self-portraits, and single figures in exotic finery.

In 1652 he became a burgher of Amsterdam, and in 1653 he married Elisabeth Dell, whose father held positions with the Admiralty of Amsterdam and the wine merchants' guild, both institutions that later gave commissions to the artist.

The Westerkerk (Western Church) is a Reformed church within Dutch Protestant Calvinism in central Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Rembrandt van Rijn was buried somewhere under a tombstone in the Westerkerk on October 8, 1669.