Many compositional sketches show Rembrandt's distinctive method for training pupils, as well as his own imagination. Genre and landscape drawings demonstrate how pupils studied a range of specialist themes and techniques to achieve comprehensive mastery. Finished paintings, some still produced in Rembrandt's studio, reveal their instruction under Rembrandt but also their individual responses to his model. His instructions drew aspiring young painters, such as Nicolaes Maes, Willem Drost, Abraham van Dijck and Jacobus Leveck. They came for the second phase of their training, to become independent masters. They saw Rembrandt as a comprehensive teacher, and not only imitated his virtuoso brush work, but also followed his instruction in a wide range of subject matter, from historical narrative to landscape.
