Rembrandt van Rijn, considered by many to be the greatest painter of all times, was born in Leiden town, where he attended the gymnasium, and for at least two years, university. He considered himself an intellectual artist, not a mere tradesman, and therefore his goal was history painting.
In the Golden Age, when nearly every able-bodied man in this country practised painting, the only market for history painting was Amsterdam. So he left for Amsterdam, never to return to his hometown.

In Amsterdam, Rembrandt quickly made a name for himself with portraying the merchant class, and as soon as possible he settled in between his patrons, who lived in the newest city extension, what was much later to become the Jewish quarter.

He bought a magnificent house for himself to live in, containing a sizable studio and a separate studio to teach a huge number of eager students.

After nineteen years of living like an upper class bourgeois, however, Rembrandt went bankrupt, had to sell the house and had to move to a very different part of town.

This tour begins with a visit to the Rembrandt House Museum, restored to its Golden Age splendor, and comprises a walk – with pictures – through the area, where Rembrandt also wandered, making sketches and drawings of still existing structures. Also past the former guild house, of which he was a member, past houses of colleagues and patrons, and the hotel for which his most famous painting, the Nightwatch, was destined.