Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (1606-1669) stands as one of the most important painters in Western art, but nowhere else do we encounter his inimitable talent more so than in his drawings and etchings. Hinged upon experimentation and expressive line work, they garnered him unparalleled recognition from his contemporaries.
Each portrait or quotidian scene is elevated by his masterful treatment of light, shadow, and hatching. There is another world to be accessed within Rembrandt’s etchings—one that dwells within the intangibilities of moody midnight contemplation and the twilit countryside, these elusive moments fixed to the page with every stroke. Meanwhile, Rembrandt’s drawings display his emotional state with a candor unseen in other works. Using pen and brush, silverpoint and charcoal as well as colored chalks and ink, he drew on various types of paper which he also sometimes dyed beforehand.
Commemorating the350th anniversary of the artist’s deathand published in tandem with an exhibition at the Rijksmuseum of unprecedented scale, this stunning XXL monograph is the first-ever collection gathering Rembrandt’s complete works on paper. Through the 708 drawings, brilliantly printed in color for the first time, and 314 etchings in pristine reproductions, we discover Rembrandt’s keen eye, deft hand, and boundless depth of feeling like never before; and above all, we witness that he was far more than just a painter.
