The Artist Drawing from the Model

c. 1639

Rembrandt van Rijn

Associated Names
Rembrandt van Rijn

Artist, Dutch, 1606 - 1669

The image shows a sketch with a figure in the center, depicted from the back, with only the lower half of the body detailed and the rest only partially outlined. The person is standing and turned slightly to the right, with their facial features not clearly visible due to the light outline. They appear to have a cloth wrapped around their head. A palm frond is sketched beside them. To their right, another figure is seen from the side, waist up, turned towards the standing figure, draped in textured fabric. On the left, a crouching figure is sketched, shown from the side, wearing a head cloth and appearing to hold something close to them. The background is heavily shaded in the top half, suggesting a darker space, with abstract or unfinished elements surrounding the main figures.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    etching, drypoint and burin

  • Credit Line

    Print Purchase Fund (Rosenwald Collection)

  • Dimensions

    sheet (trimmed to plate mark): 23.4 x 18.2 cm (9 3/16 x 7 3/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1968.4.1

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    White/Boon 1969, no. 192, State ii/ii

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Robert Dighton (Lugt 727), London

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1969

  • Rembrandt in the National Gallery of Art [Commemorating the Tercentenary of the Artist's Death], National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1969, no. 89, 66.

1973

  • Etchings by Rembrandt, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1973, no cat.

2001

  • The Unfinished Print, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2001, repro.

2004

  • The Unfinished Print, The Frick Collection, New York, 2004.

2006

  • Strokes of Genius: Rembrandt's Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

2009

  • Drawings by Rembrandt and His Pupils: Telling the Difference. The J. Paul Getty Museum. Los Angeles, 2009, 17, 18, 62, 250, fig. x.

Bibliography

1923

  • Hind, Arthur M. A Catalogue of Rembrandt's Etchings. London: Methuen and Co. Ltd., 1923.

1969

  • White, Christopher and Karel G. Boon. Rembrandt's Etchings. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Van Gendt & Co., 1969.

1993

  • The New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, 1450-1700. (Rembrandt, Erik Hinterding and Jaco Rutgers, authors). Rotterdam: Sound & Vision Interactive, 1996-, no. 176, state ii/iv.

Markings

Robert Dighton (Lugt 727)

Wikidata ID

Q65511750

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