The white highlight at the tip of the nose, red touches on the cheeks and lips, and the shadow cast by the nose on the eyelids strengthen the three-dimensionality of the face.

The meticulously detailed facial expressions are all the work of Dutch master Rembrandt

One of the most important and famous artists in history, Rembrandt Van Rijn was a master of light and excelled in painting and sketching.

These paintings are part of a showcase exhibition at the Louvre in Abu Dhabi.

In total there are 95 artworks by Rembrandt, Johannes Vermeer, Frans Hals, Jan Lievens, and their contemporaries.

"This exhibition about Dutch Golden Age is just a fantastic opportunity to see another network; the Dutch Golden Age is a specific period in Dutch land and in Europe because in that period the Dutch were the masters of the sea and were able to reach any continent, to reach any people just by their ships. So this is an opportunity for us to exhibit one show about their networks and above all their wealthiness," says Chief Curator Rose-Marie Mousseaux.

"The Dutch Golden Age" exhibition spans the seventeenth century when the republic prospered in every avenue, the arts, trade, and the sciences.

It was the rise of the Netherlands as an economic power in Europe.

Holland was an independent, democratic, protestant country, and the people were interested seeing themselves in these images.

Religious scenes and famous historical events were no longer the preferred subject matter.

What people wanted and still want to see are paintings of everyday life and these scenes became very popular.

Vermeer's  "The Lacemaker" and "Young Woman Seated at a Virginal" are among the most prized of the Dutch masters, particularly as less than forty of his artworks survive today.  

Vermeer, the second most famous Dutch artist after Rembrandt, is perhaps best known for his painting Girl With a Pearl Earring, 1665.  

The artist painted using bright colours as opposed to the brown palette that most artists at the time used and like Rembrandt was able to convey depth, light and shade.

Rembrandt van Rijn - born in Leiden on July 15, 1606 - won success early. At age 21, he already had his own students.

By the time he moved to Amsterdam in 1631, he was collecting large commissions and felt confident enough to rank himself among the art's elite.

Like Michelangelo, he used only his first name.

His life though, while successful, wasn't always happy.

His beloved wife Saskia died when she was just 29-years-old.

Spending money faster than he could earn, Rembrandt went bankrupt in 1658.

He also outlived his son Titus, who was the only child to survive from his union with Saskia.

Rembrandt's greatest works were his portraits - of his contemporaries and of himself - paintings depicting scenes from the bible, and his sketches which transformed the etching process into a popular form of art.

Rembrandt's own face is possibly one of the most famous in art. He painted about 40 portraits of himself and etched about 32 more.

Visitors here are drawn into the lives of Dutch masters.

"It's very nice because we came to know a lot of Rembrandt's history at the beginnings of him, so it was a good opportunity to learn about Rembrandt," says Pablo Fernandez, a UAE resident from Chile.

"My son who is seven years old has never had an experience like this before, so we thought it's really important to bring him and I'm really impressed so far with the kind of modern way that we are encouraged to look at the art pieces. He's walking around with his headphones on, using the ipad, listening and learning about the different pictures and sculptures and things he sees and I'm just following him really, just looking at his learning which is amazing," says Lisa Sartori who was visiting the museum for the first time.

The Louvre Abu Dhabi has made an acquisition this oil sketch by Rembrandt.

It's titled: "Head of a young man with clasped hands: Study of the figure of Christ."

The painting belongs to a series of oil sketches referred to as Rembrandt's Face of Jesus group.

The purchase is the twelfth to be added to the Louvre Abu Dhabi's permanent collection since last October. The museum has so far purchased 650 artworks

"Last collection has 650 artworks so it's quite impressive to have such acquisitions and such masterpieces. Above all, the fact is that when we decide to acquire we acquire masterpieces belonging to a universal narrative which is really important to us," says Mousseaux.

The exhibition will continue until May 18, 2019.