Happy Birthday, Rembrandt!

Rembrandt van Rijn, of course. Look at these two self-portraits and marvel at way he captures his own aging self... 1629 and 1669.



And here's what's arguably his best known work, The Night Watch (or The Company of Captain Frans Cocq) painted in 1649.



And this makes me think of the wonderful jacket of one of Terry Pratchett's best novels, Night Watch, which came out in the US with a crappy jacket of two stylized heraldic angels holding a cop's badge ... but with this in the UK:



And it's not the first time, either. (Hogfather leaps to the mind, also Monstrous Regiment...) No wonder I buy these from amazon.co.uk instead of here.