Rembrandt’s Etchings: Highlights of the Rembrandt House collection

After a succesful first selection of Rembrandt’s etchings, The Rembrandt House Museum is staging the second part of our exhibition Rembrandt’s Etchings: Highlights of the Rembrandt House collection from July 26th until September 17th 2017. A selection of some thirty etchings from the museum’s collection will give visitors insight into the artistic and technical aspects of Rembrandt’s printmaking.

Rembrandt is one of the greatest graphic talents of all time. A passionate etcher who left an extensive oeuvre of around 290 prints. He was admired by his contemporaries for his free drawing manner, his dramatic chiaroscuro and his bold experiments in etching technique. His prints have been a source of inspiration for countless artists, among them luminaries like Goya and Picasso, and still are today. Generations of artists have borrowed motifs and compositions from Rembrandt’s prints.

Rembrandt’s spontaneous yet assured drawing style is magnificently expressed in his etchings. The movements of his hand in this medium can be followed as precisely as in his drawings, and he endeavoured to make each print an individual work of art by varying the printing process. The Rembrandt House Museum has one of the most important collections of Rembrandt’s etchings in the world and its mission is to encourage greater interest in this extraordinary cultural heritage.