As his name denotes, Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (1606-1669) was born on the banks of the Rhine, his father being a miller at Leyden. When fourteen years of age he entered the university of his native town and had a classical education, which stood him in good stead through his long and troubled career. Although he was at first placed as a pupil of Jacob van Swanenburgh, he at an early age removed to Amsterdam. There he worked under Pieter Lastman (1583-1633), whose _Abraham’s Sacrificing Jacob_ (No. 2443A) of 1616 is hung opposite the works of his illustrious pupil. The independent spirit of Rembrandt soon asserted itself, and as early as 1627 he placed his name on pictures which still exist, notably in the Berlin and Stuttgart museums. His earliest picture in the Louvre is the _Old Man Reading_ (No. 2541A), which is signed and dated 1630, and was presented by M. Kaempfen, a former Director of this gallery, on his retirement. Three years later came the two small and very similar versions (No. 2540 and No. 2541) of the _Philosopher in Meditation_, the former of which is signed and dated; in 1633 was painted the _Portrait of the Artist_ (No. 2552), while another oval picture of the same subject (No. 2553) is inscribed 1634. In this early period the artist was in the habit of portraying members of his own family, who were naturally his most accessible models. At this moment of his career Rembrandt had to measure himself with many rivals in Amsterdam, notably with Thomas de Keyser (1596?-1667), whose _Portrait of a Man_ (No. 2438A) was formerly in the Rodolphe Kann collection, while a half-length _Portrait of a Man_ (No. 2438B), also by de Keyser, was formerly at Versailles. From the trammels and restrictions which the art of de Keyser would have been likely to impose on a less gifted and original mind, Rembrandt readily set himself free; and he must have had great hopes for the future when, in 1634, he took to wife the wealthy Saskia van Uylenborch. However, the oval _Portrait of Himself wearing a black cap_ (No. 2554), dated 1637, is of marked inferiority to the dignified and deeply religious panel, _The Archangel Raphael leaving Tobias and his Father Tobit_ (No. 2536), of the same year. A year later he must have painted the _Portrait of an Old Man_ (No. 2544), and his first pure landscape.