Abraham Entertaining the Angels by Rembrandt van Rijn

Pieter Gysels, River Landscape with Villages and Travelers (verso), 1675/1685, oil on copper, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Ladislaus and Beatrix von Hoffman and Patrons' Permanent Fund 1997.85.1.b

Rembrandt van Rijn died on 4 October 1669 and was buried in an unmarked grave. The plate for Abraham Entertaining the Angels had been purchased by an unknown buyer and came into the hands of a Flemish artist, Pieter Gysels (1621-1690). Gysels painted a river landscape on the back of the plate; copper is an excellent surface for such small, detailed paintings. It is amazing to us today that this copperplate was once considered more valuable as the surface for a new work of art than as a work by Rembrandt.