Sometimes PBS can come up with some outstanding presentations. The one yesterday I thought was simply amazing on Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn. (July 15, 1606 – October 4, 1669) was a Dutch painter and etcher. He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art history and the most important in Dutch history. His contributions to art came in a period that historians call the Dutch Golden Age.
"He combined more delicate skill with more energy and power," states Chambers' Biographical Dictionary. "His treatment of mankind is full of human sympathy" (J.O. Thorne: 1962).

In an article published on September 16, 2004 in The New England Journal of Medicine, Margaret S. Livingstone, professor of neurobiology of Harvard Medical School, suggests that Rembrandt, whose eyes failed to align correctly, suffered from stereo blindness. She made this conclusion after studying 36 of Rembrandt's self-portraits. Because he could not form a normal binocular vision, his brain automatically switched to one eye for many visual tasks. This disability could have helped him to flatten images he saw, and then put it onto the two-dimensional canvas. In Livingstone's words, this could have been a gift to a great painter like him, "Art teachers often instruct students to close one eye in order to flatten what they see. Therefore, stereo blindness might not be a handicap — and might even be an asset — for some artists." However, among Rembrandt's greatest talents was an ability to create the illusion of full volume, the perception of which requires healthy stereoptic vision.

According the PBS show Rembrandt's wife was rich and he really went through her money dressing extravagantly. What really got my attention was one of his biggest commissions was to paint a very large picture in an Amsterdam famous building. This was to be Rembrandt's big comeback because he had really upset some of the wealthy merchants that he usually painted for. Rembrandt painted the picture as he thought it should be and they hated it. Rembrandt got so mad he tore the picture up. I laughed my ass off.

interesting...thanks alot

You are welcome. Rembrandt dropped out of school at age 12 to become a painter. I love the shows they do on people who have really made an impact on history. The one they did on Einstein was interesting, too. Einstein flunked math. Mozart heard whole symphonies in his head but went blind. His wife had to write the notes on paper when his sight failed him. Madam Curie finished her husband's work on the X-ray machine after he had burned up to crisp on the machine. I think the shows are truly inspirational.