Rembrandt's life has always been an enigma. How did a miller's son from a provincial Dutch town become the greatest artist in the world? With his formative years shrouded in mystery, the only remaining evidence of Rembrandt's life as a young man is his work. Deeply rooted in the turbulent changes that his hometown was undergoing, Rembrandt's early paintings tell a fascinating story of artistic evolution against the backdrop of the widening horizons of Leiden's cultural and commercial life during the Dutch Golden Age. Leiden's good fortune facilitated Rembrandt's. But who was that young man inventing himself as the city around him grew and prospered? How did Rembrandt become Rembrandt? To find out, Leiden native Onno Blom immersed himself in the world, the country, the city and the house in which Rembrandt was born in 1606 and where he spent the first twenty-five years of his life. The result is a fascinating portrait of the artist as a young man, rich in local and biographical detail, and restless in its efforts to seek out the roots of his genius.

"Fascinating... Blom's method is persuasive" - The Times

"Compellingly written" - Nederlands Dagblad

"A captivating portrait of an artist as a young man and the city of Leiden as protagonist. It testifies to a great historical imagination" - De Standaard

"There's still a lot we don't know about the first 25 years of the painter's life. Blom nimbly weaves the limited biographical details with chunks of local history and a hefty dose of hypotheses....In his hands Rembrandt's early years become a lively quest and deep psychological study in one" - HP/De Tijd

"Young Rembrandt bursts with vivid details and juicy anecdotes; great research" - Trouw

"In Young Rembrandt a Rembrandt emerges who became a true artist via an unconventional path, though Blom admits the painter will always have something enigmatic about him, no matter how close he may try to get to him" - Vrij Nederland

"It's a book that makes the young Rembrandt more tangible without lapsing into fiction, a book for admirers in the making and all others who can't get enough of Rembrandt" - Tertio