Gerrit (Gerard) Dou (1613-1675) was born on 7 April 1613 in Leiden, a cultural, intellectual and commercial crossroads for much of Europe in the seventeenth century. Situated halfway between The Hague and Amsterdam, it had a prosperous textile industry and the first Protestant university in The Netherlands. Dou's father, Douwe Jansz, owned a successful glass engraving workshop in Leiden. Dou himself studied the craft for two and a half years with a leading glassmaker, developing an eye for fine details that became characteristic of his painting style.
