Gerrit Dou was born in Leiden, a city that was important in the seventeenth century. Leiden was right in the middle of The Hague and Amsterdam, and it was a place where a lot of things were happening. It had a big textile industry and the first Protestant university in the Netherlands.
![Gerard Dou paintings Gerard Dou paintings](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXKb4KOGnV_e_UqO_eMqFKkNqz8tV0t5l0BAwvt5hjZ09ad7XnWngpKzO-II3Ppzjy7OZTe1ON_XC_tmtrc-sIgeSloPUAteru7lh7ifGmcEHJXjOxYf1olKGo0jWFbEFfx7_1Oy_aZk48X2I-y61wNxIH_OUOYpmhcq9oz8jBemVLMikoFxEzguYr-qXP/s16000/Gerrit%20Dou%20Girl%20with%20an%20Oil%20Lamp%20at%20a%20Window.jpg)