Don Quixote:

main character of The Ingenious Nobleman Sir Quixote of La Mancha (2 volumes-1605, 1615) by Cervantes.  Quixote has read so many chivalric romances that he loses his sanity and decides to set out to revive chivalry, undo wrongs, and bring justice to the world,  He has a massive imagination and during this adventures often turns small encounter into major features.  He has a tendency to intervene violently in matters irrelevant to himself; his habit of not paying debts results in privations, injuries and humiliations (with Sancho his side kick often the victim).  He is finally persuaded to return to his home village.

 

Werther:

main character of Sorrows of Young Werther (1774) by Goethe; one of the most important novels in the Storm and Stress period of German literature, influenced the later Romantic movement.

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Julian Sorel:

protagonist of The Red and the Black, a novel  (1830) by Beyle (French, 1783-1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal.   The book chronicles the attempts of a provincial young man to rise socially beyond his modest upbringing through a combination of talent, hard work, deception & hypocrisy. He ultimately allows his passions to betray him.   Stendhal is highly regarded for the acute analysis of his characters' psychology and considered one of the earliest and foremost practitioners of realism.

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Faust:

main character of Faust I and Faust II by Goethe (1808 and 1832).  Goethe's magnum opus & greatest work of German literature.  The first work is the story of Faust who has sold his soul to the Devil; the second work is less about Faust, more a study of social phenomena such as psychology, history & politics in addition to mystical and philosophical topics.

  

Rembrandt’ self portraits: * see Endnote 1

Rembrandt created some 100 self-portraits including over 40 paintings, 31 etchings & 7 drawings;  these constitute about 10% of his total work and are a visual diary of the artist over a span of 40 years.  They were produced throughout his career at a fairly steady pace, after 1630 there is a shift from etchings towards paintings, which are more common thereafter.  There is a gap between 1645-1652.  His final etching was 1658, his final self-portrait painting was 1669, the year he died.