Jan van Goyen, Gabriel Metsu, Gerard Dou and Rembrandt were also natives of this town.
Abroad its navigators monopolized the commerce of the world, and explored unknown seas; at home the Dutch school of painting reached its acme in Rembrandt (1607-1669); and the philological reputation of the country was sustained by Grotius, Vossius and the elder Heinsius.
And yet, though Rembrandt's " Nightwatch " is dated the very year after the publication of the Meditations, not a word in Descartes breathes of any work of art or historical learning.
The gallery of paintings, housed in a handsome building erected in 1880 on the Schdne Aussicht, contains one of the finest small collections in Europe, especially rich in the works of Rembrandt, Frans Hals and Van Dyck.
In the palace chapel are pictures by Rembrandt, Nicolas Poussin, Guido Reni and Annibale Caracci.