rembrandt also portrays himself confronting the viewer and in relation to his cra, but rembrandt is entirely alone with his palette, ready to define himself in his characteristic thick impasto, the paint troweled on and worked with his fingers rather than with the brush. rembrandt, with his direct look and with h coarse, visibly applied paint, asserts his presence, his selfness, his individuality, as the matter for contemplation. in the story of western art, the 17th century, the age of baroque, began through much of europe in subjection to the ideals of the italian renaissance. by the century's end, new artistic tastes had developed-- boldly naturalistic... richly ssual... passionate and profound.... baroque artists had served a variety of masters. they had, as always, provided the images of power for absolute monarchs, whose subjects increasingly saw them as all too mortal. they provided religious images to bolster a faith shaken by the rise of modern science and religious conflict. but something else had happened. by the end of the century, western artists had achieved as never before the

in landscapes drawn not only from what he saw around him but from japanese prints and etchings by rembrandt. here, he said, he was seeking his japan. in other words, a world of the imagination. and here he found it. in his collection of japanese prints, van gogh saw a beautiful, sun-filled, harmonious world which he imposed on the landscapes of provence. the prints themselves gave him confidence to use color more brilliantly and in a more arbitrary way. yet unlike gauguin and bernard, he never really understood the implications of the prints in terms of surface and flatness. his surfaces are thick encrustations of paint, but they always refer, often vividly, to the quality and texture, shape and perspective, of what he painted. he painted himself at this time as a workmanly japanese painter. he wrote to gauguin, "i have aimed at the character of a simple monk worshiping the eternal buddha." eventually, suffering from epilepsy and considered mad by many people, van gogh was confined in the sanitarium here at saint-remy near arles. from his window, he could look out on the weird rocky outcrop

president gave a press conference today standing in front of this work of art by rembrandt. it's called "the night watch." it was painted in 1642. it's the museum's signature piece. it's just lovely to look at. just like that. but when you see it in context, oh, when you see it in context, instead of just in a book or otherwise sort of disembodied the way we just showed it a second ago, when you actually see the size of it, you see how freaking impressive it actually is. i mean, part of the impact of this piece, right, is that it is enormous. it's 12 feet by more than 14 feet. and it served today as the gigantic and impressive backdrop for the president's press conference today in amsterdam. president obama is in the netherlands today officially for a long planned nuclear security summit. this is the third nuclear security summit of its kind that's happened since he has been president. the goal of these summits is to bring together world leaders, 53 world leaders gathered in the hague today. to agree to secure loose nuclear material around the world. the idea is to cut off a

with the famed rembrandt work "the night watch" behind him. >> we're united in imposing a cost on russia. >> but that's become a tough goal of this trip. russia has been thrown out for now from the group of the powerful nations known as the g8. mr. obama called a meeting of the seven remaining, a clear warning to russia there will be a heavy economic price to pay if it goes further into crimea and eastern ukraine. russian foreign minister sergey lavrov showed little concern. >> we are not clinging to that group. >> in a positive sign sat down with ukraine's interim foreign minister after weeks of refusing to meet insisting the kiev government was illegitimate. mr. obama has several meetings, over the next few days, sitting down with chinese leader shin ji pang. ukraine has and will continue to dominate the agenda aas the allies come together to curb future aggression. >> that's the message we want to send with eu and 48th oh at the end of the next several days. >> the president called a joint statement the g7 nations, promised brought sanctions to russia as they go further. mike viqueria

. >> reporter: rembrandt's 17th century masterpiece "the night watch," depicting dutch militia of thate, served as the backdrop as president obama warned of an unfolding 21st century threat. >> europe and america are united in our support of the ukrainian government and the ukrainian people. we are united in imposing a cost on russia for its actions so far. >> reporter: mr. obama and other g-7 leaders met at the hague to discuss nuclear security, but russia's seizure of crimea from ukraine, overshadowed the talks. ukrainian marines in crimea were blocked by russian forces today and forced to abandon their ship in donuzlav bay. russians also stormed three bases in recent days. in response, ukrainian forces started packing up and leaving crimea, on orders from kiev. >> ( translated ): the national security and defense council has made the decision to instruct the ministry of defense to conduct the redeployment of military units located in the autonomous republic of crimea. >> reporter: nato's top commander, u.s. air force general philip breedlove, also voiced concerns about russian troop

. >> it's a real rembrandt. >> yes!000. >> ...one family at a time. >> $119,000! >> yeah, baby! love it! >> and tonight... >> $100,000. >> ...the kenos take on their b

he posed in front of that famous rembrandt painting and made a statement with the prime minister, sayingnited states are united in imposing a cost upon russia. the president meet weight chinese leader, a number of issues to go over there. even there, chain in a abstaining last week in the united states security council in that vote forced by the united states to condemn what russia has done in crimea. there are many other issues, including cyber security and the disputed islands between japan and china in the east china sea. ukraine is going to be the dominant issue here, no question. president obama called a meeting of the g7 now, not the g8, russia has been effectively kicked out of that gathering to deal with the issue in ukraine over the course of the next two days, the president will go on to brussels for an e.u. summit there, long scheduled, but trying to come together here with a unified list of sanctions that the united states and europe can come together and try to compel vladimir putin's russia to change course in crimea and ukraine at large. >> are they all on the same page re

this rembrandt here. people come from all over the world to see this. people believe what they want to believe. -- guy who made this it israel. >> who is the master? >> the painting or the forger? no matter how i try ♪ times, bad times ♪ >> toast to a new era. i know what it means to be alone ♪ host: the trailer for "american hustle." ted johnson joins us from atlanta. this film has gotten a lot of attention. guest: yes, it sure has. herkywhat seems to be a jerky script. it is very unusual tone for what you're used to seeing. the performances in this movie ofe had an oscar sweep nominations for actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress. that is pretty unusual. what a lot of people do not know is that this is based on a true story. it took place in the early 1980's. it took down half a dozen members of congress in new jersey. it is going way back, but it was such an unusual sting operation on the part of the fbi. in the mindsmained of some of the content creators out here in the entertainment industry. host: one of those individuals, an estima