In 2019, the world celebrated the 350th anniversary of Rembrandt’s death. But a more important year is 1631, almost four centuries ago. That was the year the artist, still a young man, moved from his hometown of Leiden to Amsterdam, the business capital of the Netherlands. Rembrandt quickly became part of the city’s local art scene, and worked there until 1669, when he died a poor man. Unlike other 17th-century masters, Rembrandt never went abroad. Looking back at his impressive rise “Creativity and Competition” traces Rembrandt’s beginning, his breakthrough, and his market domination in the 1630s to the mid-1650s. —E.C.