Rembrandt’s father, Harmen Gerritszoon van Rijn, was a miller.
Harmen operated a windmill beside the Oude Rijn river in Leiden, the city where Rembrandt was born in 1606. The family name “van Rijn,” meaning “from the Rhine,” is associated with the river region rather than with a noble title. Rembrandt came from a relatively prosperous family of millers, while his mother’s family had Catholic connections.
The family was able to send Rembrandt to the Latin School and briefly to Leiden University, although he soon pursued painting instead. His father’s trade is one reason biographies often mention the mill when describing Rembrandt’s childhood surroundings.
The mill should not be confused with Rembrandt’s later artistic subject, The Mill, a celebrated painting whose exact location and interpretation have been debated. That painting is not a documented portrait of his father’s mill. Rembrandt’s family background provided financial stability during his youth, but his later spending and collecting contributed to severe financial problems.