A Life in Shadow and Light The life of Christoph Paudiss moved with the restless energy of the seventeenth century, tracing a path from Lower Saxony to the final years spent in Freising. Born around 1630, his early years were shaped by the profound influence of Rembrandt van Rijn. In the studios of Amsterdam and Leiden, he learned the language of light and shadow, a technical foundation that would define his later work across Europe. His career was marked by constant movement through the great centers of the era, including Stuttgart, Prague, Dresden, Vienna, and Salzburg. This peripatetic e…