Rembrandt: Prints “of a Particular Spirit”

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Rembrandt van Rijn was the premier portrait painter of Amsterdam, and his masterful history paintings drew admiration from aristocratic patrons, but it was his prints that first brought him international acclaim. Imbuing line and tone with technical finesse and ingenuity, Rembrandt crafted resonant images that were prized by connoisseurs and imitated by artists. The contemporary English writer and collector John Evelyn pronounced him “the incomparable [Rembrandt], whose etchings and gravings are of a particular spirit.”

Rembrandt: Prints “of a Particular Spirit” takes an intimate view of Rembrandt’s graphic output during the 1630s, an artistically rich span that corresponds to Rembrandt’s rise from a painter of promise in Leiden to one of the most in-demand portraitists in Amsterdam. Rembrandt’s personal developments and artistic successes were mirrored in his prints. Although his prodigious painting production took up much of his time, he continuously returned to printmaking, finding moments of creative independence in the expressive qualities of etched lines and printed tone. As he refined his technique, he broadened his subject matter to include formal portraits and history and genre scenes. Some of his boldest compositional treatments were subjects that he rarely addressed in paint, but were given exceptional vitality in print, such as his nudes and landscapes, including View of Amsterdam from the Northwest.