Introduction: Rembrandt -- an alchemist? -- Painting materials and working methods of the young Rembrandt -- Lost drawings and the use of erasable drawing boards and tafeletten -- The creation of the pictorial idea -- The canvas support -- The palette; on the relationship between style and painting technique -- Rembrandt's brushwork and illusionism; and art-theoretical approach -- Rembrandt's method of working in the 'night watch' and his late paintings -- The search for Rembrandt's binding medium -- The impact of time and rembrandt's ideas on colour and tone -- Perspectives on the quality of Rembrandt's art.