His own face did as well as any other to experiment with; none could be offended with the result, and it was always to be had without paying a model's price for the sitting.

Thus all through his life, from twenty-two to sixty-three, we can follow the growth of his art with the transformation of his body, in the long series of pictures of his single self.
More than any artist that had gone before him, Rembrandt was fascinated by the problem of light.

The brightest patch of white on a canvas will look black if you hold it up against the sky.

How, then, can the fire of sunshine be depicted at all?
Experience shows that it can only be suggested by contrast with shadows almost black.

But absolutely black shadows would not be beautiful.