Rembrandt enjoyed his period of greatest success from his arrival in Amsterdam to approximately 1645. His engravings led his works to be widely disseminated across Europe. Constatijn Huygens’s support procured him commissions from the court of Frederik Hendrik of Orange and Amalia van Solms in The Hague, and he found clients among the haute bourgeoisie of Amsterdam. In 1639 he acquired an elegant, costly house in Sint Antonisbreestraat in Amsterdam. He finished painting The Night Watch (Amsterdam, Rijksmueum) in 1642 and his wife Saskia died that same year.

These are the years in which Rembrandt’s manner of painting comes closest to that of Rubens, whom he emulates without ceasing in his quest for a language of his own. In his paintings Rembrandt combines intensity and drama with a feeling of proximity, and revels in the textures of materials.