the son of a wealthy silk-dyer and textile manufacturer,
who continued his fathers business till 1652 and who, after Rembrandt's
death, rose to important functions in the magistracy. Excepting this
influential person, Rembrandt obviously had little intimate intercourse
with the town's patricians or authorities, his art absorbing him so much
that even public events of note, do not appear to have claimed his
attention. We may therefore pass in silence the historic events
coinciding with his lifetime. Suffice it to say that those concerning
Amsterdam exclusively, were not many and that even the greatest events in
the history of the Netherlands were in those times generally accounted by
Amsterdam's citizens as secondary to their town's interest as the greatest
commercial centre. Their magistrates, if they wanted to promote the
city's particular interest, did not hesitate to oppose the Stadhouder's
power and the will of the States General. Their solicitude and vigilance
for their town's welfare are quite remarkable; but that their attachment
often blinded them to their country's more general interests, becomes
clear, if we consider that Amsterdam was more important than all the towns
of the province of Holland together and that the province of Holland alone
provided 60 per cent of the total income of the Seven Provinces forming
the Dutch Republic. Hence, until the present time, the name of Holland is
generally used in designating the Netherlands.

Taking all in all and remembering especially what was said about the
town's outward appearance and population, we must conclude that no place
could have been more appropriate than Amsterdam, as the abode of the
typically Dutch genius Rembrandt. A noted Dutch writer, Van Deyssel, has
expressed this well in the following words: "Rembrandt and Amsterdam,
these belong so amazingly together! There are northern cities, that are
like Amsterdam, but it seems to us that Amsterdam for the one who beholds
her quietly, has a unique, unequalled, deep charm. Amsterdam is the heart
of Holland and this means that it lies in the middle of Holland as the
heart in a flower, and that it is the spot where the most delicate beauty
of Holland is found." No art is more akin to the city's beauty and
embodies it better than the art of Rembrandt.

It is hard to take leave of Rembrandt and his unique abode, without
allowing the town's immediate surroundings to fascinate us by their quite
original c