When I think of Rembrandt I don't typically think of doodles, but Google did and chose to remember him on his 407th birthday today on their homepage.

Many famous artists are household names, but Rembrandt is memorialized in so many different ways. Think about it, there's even a toothpaste named after the guy. His portrait work is remarkable, and distinctive. They way he lit his subjects with a triangular shadow appearing on their face next the nose is still used as a lighting technique in modern photography. The lighting technique even bears his name.

His ability to utilize light and shadow in his work is part of what sets him apart, but if you've ever seen the movie, Incognito, you'll see there was more to it than that. he layered paint on top of paint, on top of paint. He had his own process that was difficult to emulate, although many tried. In the movie, Harry Donovan is an art forger who paints a fake Rembrandt picture for $500,000. Watch him work in this video.

 

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