er's house, Rembrandt had not returned to lead a life of idleness.
He worked tremendously in these early years. Even needed models he
found in the members of his family; he has made the face of his mother
as familiar as that of a friend; his own, with the heavy features, the
thick, bushy hair, the small intelligent eyes, between them the
vertical line, fast deepening on the fine forehead, he drew and etched
and painted, again and again. More elaborate compositions he also
undertook. As in his maturity, it was to the Bible he turned for
suggestions: Saint Paul in prison, Samson and Delilah, the
Presentation in the Temple--these were the themes then in vogue which
he preferred, rendering them with the realism which distinguished his
later, more famous Samsons and Abrahams and Christs, making them the
motive for a fine arrangement of color, for a striking study of light
and shadow. A pleasant picture one can fancy of his life at this
period; he was with his own people, for whom his love was tender; busy
with brush, pencil, and etching-needle; he was strengthening his
powers of observation, developing and perfecting his style,
occasionally producing work that won for him renown in Leyden; and,
gradually, he gathered round him a small group of earnest
fellow-workers, chief among them Lievens, Gerard Dou, and Van Vliet,
the last two, though but slightly his juniors, looking up to him as
master. These were the years of his true apprenticeship.

Leyden, however, was not the best place for a young painter who had
his fortunes to make. It was essentially a university town; interest
was concentrated upon letters; art was but of secondary consideration.
It was different in Amsterdam, the great commercial centre of Holland.
There, all was life and activity and progress; there, was money to be
spent, and the liberal patron willing to lavish it upon the artist.
Holland just then was in the first flush of prosperity and patriotism,
following upon her virtual independence from Spain. Not a citizen but
glowed with self-respect at the thought of the victory he had, in one
way or another, helped to win; the state, as represented by the good
burghers, was supreme in every man's mind. It was natural that
individuals and corporations alike should seek to immortalize their
greatness by means of the painter's art, which, in Holland, had long
since ceased to be a monopoly of the church. Hence the age became
essentially one of portrait-painting.