Rembrandt: Drawings

For most Dutch artists of the Golden Age we have no drawings at all, for the rest very few. There is only one exception: Rembrandt van Rijn. For mysterious reasons about 1,400 of his drawings survive, everything from tiny crude sketches to finished masterworks. Some are preliminary studies for etchings or paintings, but most are just little things he made because he saw something that interested him. The titles are all assigned by modern curators. Rembrandt dated a very few himself; the rest of the dates are just guesses based on style and subject. Man Pulling a Rope, c. 1628.

Woman with a Child Descending a Staircase, c. 1636.

Jacob is Shown the Bloodstained Coat, 1658. I love the way he arranged figures.

House Near the Entrance to a Wood, c. 1644. A place where fairy tales were told.

View of the Amstel, c. 1648.

Farmhouse in light and shadow. I envy Dutch archaeologists this fabulous record of ordinary houses and even sheds.

St. Jerome Reading.

Woman Sleeping, c. 1655.

Farm house.

View of Houtewaal, c. 1650.

Lion resting.

Windmill.