The Great Artists also features expert commentary and analysis from leading authorities, art historians and scholars, new location footage and extensive period re-creations. The six programs in this series feature an in-depth look at the Dutch Masters.

Some art lovers believe that Rembrandt’s abilities as a portraitist have never been surpassed, and it is, perhaps, his famous series of self-portraits that best demonstrate his genius. Painted over the course of his life, they reveal nothing less than Rembrandt himself, as he was when he was alive.

There is often a sadness in these images, perhaps unsurprisingly as Rembrandt suffered many difficulties during his life, including: bankruptcy, torrid affairs, and the death of loved ones. His paintings characteristically depict group portraits, landscapes, and religious work. Many of these images were produced as etchings, confirming Rembrandt’s mastery of the line drawing as well as conveying the drama of great Biblical events. When he died in 1669, he left behind an incredible body of work whose qualities have been matched by few other artists of history, if at all.

Born in 1632, only three dozen canvases survive from Vermeer’s working life. A resident of the Dutch city of Delft, it is Vermeer’s subject matter that is the first point of interest in his work. Unusually, he chose to depict scenes of ordinary, everyday life. His images are calm and precise, almost mathematical in their organization, while his ability to depict the effects of light are also remarkable, though for a long time his skills were almost completely unknown. It would be two hundred years after Vermeer’s death before his status as a Dutch Master began to be fully recognized.

Born in Antwerp in 1577, the young Peter Paul Rubens traveled extensively in Italy, soaking up the artistic achievements of the High Renaissance, and slowly becoming one of the most important Flemish painter of the 17th century. Returning to Flanders, he began a career that combined Renaissance technique with a new boldness of approach towards color and brushwork. His mastery at depicting surface texture can be seen in his religious images commissioned by the Catholic Church. But Rubens was undoubtedly a man of the world, a charming individual who worked as a diplomat and whose connections resulted in a great number of portrait commissions. It is these portraits that are, perhaps, the most enduring achievements of a giant of art history.

The pupil of Rubens, Anthony van Dyck followed his master’s example by traveling to Italy as part of his artistic training. Like Rubens, he found inspiration in the Venetian Renaissance masters Titian and Giorgione. An enthusiasm for rich colors and a remarkable ability to depict the texture of fabric characterized Van Dyck’s best work. But even more than Rubens, Van Dyck focused his attention on the art of the portraiture. Appointed Court Painter to the English King Charles in 1632, the portraits he produced provide an unrivaled visual insight into the noble men and women of the day, as well as displaying his technical mastery of the genre.

The career of Hieronymus Bosch is among the most mysterious of all the great artists of history. Though he was well-known by the time of his death in 1516, virtually nothing of his life is known today. His surviving works are also deeply enigmatic, highly symbolic images filled with the spirit of the Middle Ages. But the appeal of Bosch’s work has long outlasted the late medieval age in which he lived. Though his art addressed the human follies of his own time, the satirical humor that he used can still be readily appreciated today. His intensely spiritual images of Christ and the Saints also continue to inspire many modern students, but it is Bosch’s remarkable visions of the fantastic that are, undoubtedly, his greatest achievement.

The life of Pieter Bruegel the Elder will always remain something of a mystery. We possess few details of his sixteenth century life, and we must rely fully on his surviving art to appreciate his genius. As an artist, he was inspired deeply by his great Dutch predecessor, Hieronymous Bosch. His work reveals typically Boschian themes such as the Follies Of Man, and he used a similar keen humor to convey his artistic message. Bruegel also followed Bosch in his choice of contemporary subject matter. His depictions of peasant life are amongst the greatest in western art. He was also one of the first masters of landscape painting, and his satirical drawings are as relevant today as they have ever been, while religious works combine simplicity and depth in their spiritual message.