Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Riju was born July 15, 1606 in the town of Leiden, Netherlands. One of seven children, he was the only one who received a higher education; all of his siblings went into the trades. Leiden was a University town with favorable education atmosphere. Upon graduating from the Leiden high school where students primarily learned Latin, and "true religion" (Calvinistic Protestantism) Rembrandt enrolled into a Leiden University, which by 1620s was internationally renowned. Not very eager for education he pretty soon became an apprentice of Jacob Isaacszoon Swandenburgh, and showed promise in painting, so his father found it good to apprentice him and to take him to the renowned painter P. Listman, residing in Amsterdam so that he might advance himself and be better trained and educated.
             During the seventeen's century history painters enjoyed the highest prestige, higher even then portrait painters. Since history painters could give their imagination a certain freedom, depict and arrange their compositions as they please. In comparison portrait painters had little variation to work with to express themselves. This is why Rembrandt wanted to become a history, or religion painter.
             This era would probably be more favored by Tolstoy then by Plato. Although the paintings still presented the objects close or were identical to what we see in life, the fantasy of the artists began to take over the order of the objects, leaning towards the more historical, religious perspective, something Tolstoy would love.
             A piece of art from that era by Rembrandt of a religious context is an etching called "La Petite Tombe", also known as "Christ Preaching". The subject here is a gathering of common people around Jesus Christ, who is preaching "the remission of sins, an event that does not occur in the Gospels, but which played an important part in the Mennouite doctrine". (Clark, p. 183) Rembrandt has many religious paintings and e...