Rembrandt self-portrait

Dutch painter and etcher Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) is considered one of the greatest painters in European art and the most important in Dutch history. His contributions to art came in a period of great wealth that historians call the Dutch Golden Age.
Having achieved youthful success as a portrait painter, Rembrandt's later years were marked by personal tragedy and financial hardships. Yet his reputation as an artist remained high, and for 20 years he taught many important Dutch painters. (from Wikipedia, read more HERE)

He painted this self-portrait in the same year he died, in 1669. The painting is part of the collection of the Mauritshuis in The Hague since 1947.

Mauritshuis

 On my to-do list for a long time was a visit to the Mauritshuis in The Hague. This art museum houses the Royal Cabinet of Paintings, which are mostly works from the Dutch Golden Age, from painters such as Johannes Vermeer, Rembrandt van Rijn, Jan Steen, and others. The Mauritshuis was built between 1636 and 1641, and was designed by Dutch architects Jacob van Campen and Pieter Post. The two-storey building is strictly symmetrical.

Originally, the building was the residence of count John Maurice of Nassau. It is now the property of the government of the Netherlands and is listed in the top 100 Dutch heritage sites.
In 1822 the Mauritshuis was opened to the public, so it has been a museum for almost 2 centuries now!