a Dutch Golden Age painter and printmaker of history paintings and portraits. He died young, at the age of 25. He is a mysterious figure, closely associated with Rembrandt, with very few paintings clearly attributable to him. He was presumably born in Amsterdam, in what was then known as the United Provinces of the Netherlands, but when and where is unknown. Around 1650, according to the early art historian Houbraken, he became a student of Rembrandt, eventually developing a close working relationship, painting history scenes, biblical compositions, symbolic studies of a solitary figure, as well as portraits.
