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diff --git a/26496.txt b/26496.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0041f14 --- /dev/null +++ b/26496.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1071 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Rembrandt's Etching Technique: An Example, by Peter Morse + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Rembrandt's Etching Technique: An Example + +Author: Peter Morse + +Release Date: August 31, 2008 [EBook #26496] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REMBRANDT'S ETCHING TECHNIQUE *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Viv, Joseph Cooper and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + ++Contributions from +The Museum of History and Technology: +Paper 61+ + ++Rembrandt's Etching Technique: +An Example+ + +_Peter Morse_ + + +[Illustration: FIGURE 1 + +_Landscape with a hay barn and a flock of sheep._ Etching by Rembrandt, +shown in original size.] + + + +_By Peter Morse_ + + +_Rembrandt's Etching Technique: +An Example_ + + +_A Rembrandt print in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution has +been made the subject of a study of the artist's etching technique. The +author is associate curator, division of graphic arts, in the +Smithsonian Institution's Museum of History and Technology._ + + +All footnotes appear at the end of this paper. + + +Rembrandt's print, _Landscape with a hay barn and a flock of sheep_,[1] +is a singularly apt example of the variety of etching treatment used by +the artist in his mature period.[2] The print, in black ink, 83 x 174 +mm. in size (approximately 3-1/2 x 7 inches), is signed and dated +1650.[3] It shows a peaceful Dutch landscape along the Onderdijk Road on +the south side of the Saint Anthony's Dike, only a short walk from +Rembrandt's home in Amsterdam. The picture is, as usual, the mirror +reversal of the actual scene.[4] + +The observer's attention, from his raised position, is first drawn to +the center of the print, attracted by the bright highlights on the trees +and barn, then is snapped abruptly to the left side by the figure of the +woman outlined against the sky. Now the eye moves slowly across the +bottom, noticing the flock of sheep and the shepherd, and is led further +by the soft dark line of the creek bank, to pick up the distant town and +then the cows on the right. Only after completely circling the +composition does one notice the horse, rolling in the grass and joyfully +kicking its feet in the air. + +Such artistic command seldom comes spontaneously. In Rembrandt's case, +it is clearly the result of careful preparation, many years of learning +and experience, and hard work in the creation of each picture. Such a +process has produced in this print--one of nine landscapes which mark a +turning point in 1650--a work of stylistic synthesis, which integrates +Rembrandt's previous knowledge and leads on to his later masterpieces. + +[Illustration: FIGURE 2 + +Mirror reversal of _Landscape with a hay barn and a flock of sheep_.] + +In 1650 Rembrandt was evidently in a tranquil state of mind. He was 44 +years old. Young Hendrickje Stoffels, who had entered his household in +1645 as a maid, was well settled as housekeeper and mistress. Geertghe +Dircx--who had been the nurse of Rembrandt's son, Titus, since the death +of his wife, Saskia, in 1642--had just been taken to an institution +after a nasty breach of promise suit.[5] Rembrandt's finances were in +good shape; his insolvency was not to come until 1656, after the +international economic crisis of 1653.[6] The artist certainly had the +fullest confidence and experience in his working methods, having already +done close to 250 prints.[7] This state of well-being is reflected in +the fact that of the 27 prints Rembrandt did in the three years, +1650-1652, no fewer than 14 are landscapes of a serene character.[8] +This is an unusually large proportion of a single subject and surely +reflects the artist's state of mind, which helped him to produce this +masterpiece of serenity, humor, and technical virtuosity. + +His etching technique can be clearly studied in this print. In summary, +all the evidence shows that Rembrandt here laid a foundation of lines on +his plate with a single etching. He then mantled the sketch with rich +drypoint lines, to give a sensitive chiaroscuro to the finished work. +The integration of etching and drypoint is striking. There are few areas +of this print (except the sky) that do not contain both kinds of line. + +Rembrandt evidently had an excellent idea of his design before he ever +touched the needle to the plate. Though he is often admired for his +spontaneity, particularly in his landscapes,[9] this is a misconception. +Benesch lists no fewer than 78 landscape drawings by Rembrandt in the +years 1648-1650,[10] and there were perhaps many more, now lost or +unidentified. For this etching alone, there are at least five likely +preparatory drawings, each giving certain essential features of the +final print. The most interesting is the _Landscape with a Rolling +Horse_.[11] Here we see that the horse, apparently the happiest of +impulsive inspirations, is instead a carefully considered part of the +final design, copied from the drawing previously done on the spot. As +the horse in the drawing is the mirror image of that in the print, we +can feel certain that the drawing came first and not the etching. Two +other drawings[12] (figures 4 and 5) delineate the clump of trees, in +form and placement very similar to the print. A fourth[13] (figure 6) is +a sketch of a hay barn of the type shown in the print, evidently quite +common in the Dutch countryside, and a fifth[14] (figure 7) foreshadows +the scheme of composition used in the print, principally the +relationship of the road and the dark central mass. All these drawings +are the mirror reversal of the print. + +[Illustration: FIGURE 3 + +_Landscape with a rolling horse._ Drawing by Rembrandt. After Benesch, +vol. 6, fig. 1444. (Smithsonian photo 59391, with the permission of +Phaidon Press, Ltd., and the Groningen Museum.)] + +[Illustration: FIGURE 4 + +_A clump of trees._ Drawing by Rembrandt. After Benesch, vol. 4, fig. +1001. (Smithsonian photo 59392, with the permission of Phaidon Press, +Ltd.)] + +[Illustration: FIGURE 5 + +_Farm building among trees._ Drawing by Rembrandt. (_Photo courtesy of +the Albertina Museum, Vienna._)] + +[Illustration: FIGURE 6 + +_Farmstead with a hay barn._ Drawing by Rembrandt. After Benesch, vol. +6, fig. 1458. (Smithsonian photo 59393, with the permission of Phaidon +Press, Ltd., and the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Copenhagen.)] + +[Illustration: FIGURE 7 + +_Farm buildings beside a road with distant farmstead._ Drawing by +Rembrandt. (_Photo courtesy of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford._)] + +It is very much a modern taste to admire spontaneity more than craft. We +must understand that Rembrandt's work was anything but spontaneous in +execution. The existence of so many drawings prior to this print +certainly suggests that Rembrandt collected his ideas from many sources, +on the spot, but did his finished work in the quiet of his studio, with +his notes ready at hand. He used the sketches as the raw material for a +work of art. Rembrandt said that the only rule that should bind the +artist is nature,[15] but he was certainly not distracted by nature. The +individual genius here lies in assembling many observations from nature +into a work which goes beyond nature and yet appears fresh and natural. + +The metal plates he commonly used were of thin, cold-hammered copper, as +shown by extant examples.[16] The hammering had the effect of making the +metal harder than today's rolled copper sheets. This enabled more prints +to be taken from the plate than is possible for a present-day +printmaker. Today, we tend to consider drypoint a very fugitive medium, +because the burr perishes so quickly under the pressure of the printing +press. Rembrandt undoubtedly had fewer inhibitions about drypoint, for +he could expect his harder copper to hold up longer, perhaps for as many +as fifty excellent prints from the same plate. Hammered copper, unlike +the modern rolled variety, is also completely free of grain in the +metal. This enables a drypoint needle to move freely in any direction +without encountering the resistance of a grain. Here again, Rembrandt +had more incentive to use drypoint than a modern artist. + +Rembrandt's etching ground has been the subject of considerable +discussion. A book published in 1660, nine years before the artist's +death, contains a recipe for "The Ground of Rinebrant of Rine."[17] This +ground, similar to that described by Bosse as a "soft" ground,[18] +consists of two parts wax, one part mastic, and one part asphaltum. +There are countless formulae for such grounds, but virtually all are +permutations of the same three ingredients, with only slight differences +in the proportions.[19] The ground given as Rembrandt's is a thoroughly +conventional one. + +A knotty problem, however, is introduced by the last line of this 1660 +description: "... lay your black ground very thin, and the white ground +upon it. This is the only way of Rinebrant...."[20] No elaboration is +given. This one line presents a number of problems, not all of which are +soluble. To take it at face value is to accept the contemporary evidence +that Rembrandt not only used a white ground but used it exclusively. +This assertion cannot be taken uncritically. + +It will readily be seen that a white ground might be of considerable +assistance to an artist. His needle penetrates the white to the copper, +giving the familiar effect of a reddish ink line on white paper. A +normal ground, without treatment, is virtually transparent, making the +etcher's lines rather difficult to see.[21] The most usual procedure, +both in the 17th century and today, is to smoke the ground and +incorporate the soot with the ground by heating the plate slightly. This +gives a black ground, against which the lines appear light, the +negative of the ultimate print. The black ground is favored, both out of +long-established tradition and because it is very easy to apply. +Furthermore, artists today explain that they also enjoy the feeling of +working slightly blind, that one of their greatest rewards is the sense +of surprise in peeling the first proof print off the plate. For whatever +reason, the black ground has been preferred by the great majority of +artists, both past and present. + +The description of Rembrandt's ground in 1660 takes knowledge of the +white ground for granted. Its technique certainly appears to have been +generally well known among artists in the middle of the 17th century. +Rubens, in a letter as early as 1622, mentions having received a recipe +for a white ground, although he could not remember it.[22] The first +technical explanation of the process appeared in Bosse's pioneer +treatise in 1645.[23] There is no reason why Rembrandt should not have +known of the white-ground technique and every reason to suppose that he +did. + +There is one piece of strong evidence that he did use a white ground +about 1631. One of Rembrandt's drawings exists which, unlike most of his +sketches is an exact prototype (in reverse) of a specific etching, +_Diana at the Bath_.[24] The back of this drawing is covered with black +chalk, and its lines show the indentation of tracing. The only +reasonable explanation of this evidence is that Rembrandt placed his +prepared drawing on top of a white-grounded plate and traced the lines, +depositing the black chalk lines on the ground, where he could then +trace them with his etching needle. Another similarly indented +drawing--for the portrait of Cornelis Claesz Anslo--has been held to +show the same procedure as late as 1641. This drawing, however, is +backed, not with black chalk as previously cited, but with ocher +tempera.[25] Although surely used for tracing, this gives perhaps even +more evidence of his use of a black ground rather than white, although +ocher lines would show on either. These conclusions are not meant to +imply in any way that Rembrandt used the tracing of a drawing for his +_Landscape with a hay barn_.... There is every probability that he did +not do so. The implication is rather that only where a traced drawing +with black backing exists do we have circumstantial evidence for the +use, and possibly a more general use, of white ground. Without the +published recipe no question would be likely to arise that Rembrandt +used anything but the standard black ground. With it, we must search for +corroboration. + +Though the case must be left as "not proven," the use of a white etching +ground is consistent with Rembrandt's practice of using the simplest +effective means for achieving his artistic aims. The distinctive quality +of the print under consideration here is the artist's remarkable +placement and articulation of areas of black against the white paper. +Rembrandt may have found it far easier to visualize this ultimate effect +by using a white background for dark lines on his plate, rather than the +negative. + +Rembrandt almost certainly made all the etched lines in this print in a +single operation. The lines were put on the plate before it went into +the acid. The plate was then etched by the acid in a single biting, +without stopping-out. The evidence for these assertions comes from the +print itself, as we have no direct testimony in the matter. + +In the first place, the etched lines must be distinguished from the +drypoint lines applied at a later stage. The differences between the +types of line are more easily seen than described. The etched line is +clear and strong, from the clean biting of the acid. It is freer and +more autographic because it is drawn through a wax surface, not +scratched in a resisting metal surface. + +[Illustration: FIGURE 8 + +Detail of _Landscape with a hay barn and a flock of sheep_, left center, +showing light drypoint lines of the horizon and etched lines of figures +and hillside. Enlarged 10 times. (Smithsonian photo 59384.)] + +[Illustration: FIGURE 9 + +Detail of _Landscape with a hay barn and a flock of sheep_, left center, +showing forceful lines of tree branch in pure drypoint. Enlarged 10 +times. (Smithsonian photo 59390.)] + +[Illustration: FIGURE 10 + +Detail of _Landscape with a hay barn and a flock of sheep_, center, +showing diagonal lines of light drypoint without burr. Enlarged 10 +times. (Smithsonian photo 59385.)] + +The drypoint line, by its nature, is more abrupt and forceful, showing +the quality of having been scratched rather than drawn. There are two +basic drypoint lines, depending upon the position in which the drypoint +needle is held. When it is vertical or nearly so, the resulting line is +shallow and prints more weakly and distantly than the etched line. When +the needle is pulled at an angle of about 30 deg. to 60 deg., a very +perceptible furrow of copper burr is thrown up on one or both sides of +the line on the plate. This burr holds more ink than the clear channel +and prints with a highly distinctive inky richness. Basically, etching +removes metal from the plate entirely, whereas drypoint displaces it in +furrows of burr. The rich fuzzy line produced by the burr is what we most +typically associate with drypoint work. The first sort, the thin distant +line, is nevertheless just as truly drypoint as the latter and is +distinguishable by its forcefulness and clear direction.[26] The same +line may also be created, with slightly more work, by using a scraper to +remove the burr from a rich drypoint line. + +[Illustration: FIGURE 11 + +Detail of _Landscape with a hay barn and a flock of sheep_, bottom +right, showing rich drypoint lines with burr. Enlarged 10 times. +(Smithsonian photo 59386.)] + +Another way of making lines in a plate is with a burin--an instrument +with a sharp triangular point--which is pushed through the copper, +instead of being pulled, as is the drypoint needle. When used +conventionally, the burin produces a very characteristic hard, +controlled printed line, one which does not appear in this print. When +used lightly, however, its line is virtually indistinguishable from +that of the vertical drypoint needle. It is quite possible that +Rembrandt used the burin in some of his work on this and other prints, +but it seems a somewhat less likely tool than the drypoint. First, the +non-etched lines in this print seem to have a more freely moving quality +than could probably be produced with a burin, a rather stiff, if +extremely precise tool. Second, when Rembrandt was commissioned in 1665 +to engrave a portrait expressly with a burin, he found himself unable to +do so.[27] His inability, however, may be attributed as easily to +Rembrandt's artistic independence as to his inexperience with the burin. +Rembrandt's general use of the burin has been widely accepted. The +question may not be that simple. These visible differences, then, enable +us to separate the kinds of line within this print. + +The author has attempted, by tracing only the etched lines in the print, +to recreate the state of the plate after Rembrandt's etching and before +the application of drypoint (figure 12). It can be seen that Rembrandt's +etched lines form only a foundation or skeleton for the finished work. +It is in no sense complete in itself. More important, the picture lacks +all the rich contrasts of light and shade which distinguish this print +and most of Rembrandt's finished work. + +[Illustration: FIGURE 12 + +Traced sketch by the author, showing only the etched lines in +Rembrandt's print, _Landscape with a hay barn and a flock of sheep_. +(Smithsonian photo 59398.)] + +It has been generally assumed that Rembrandt went through a fairly +normal process of stopping-out and also re-etching in the course of his +print-making. The visual evidence would indicate that he did not follow +this procedure here. Stopping-out is, of course, a means of creating +variations in the printed intensity of etched lines. After a plate has +etched for a certain time--depending on the artist's inclination--it may +be removed from the acid and some of its lines covered with a stop-out +varnish, similar in texture and acid resistance to the basic ground. The +plate is then put back in the acid and the remaining lines etched more +deeply. This can be repeated any number of times, giving a wide range of +intensity to the various etched lines. No such wide range of etched +lines appears in the finished print. Further, where the edge of applied +stop-out varnish crosses a single line, the change in depth of acid +biting at that point is readily visible. Again, no such change of depth +of a single line is visible here. The inference, unless attributed to +very long coincidence, seems probable that Rembrandt used only a single +acid etch on the entire plate, with no stopping-out. + +Re-etching also seems unlikely. If the original ground has been removed +from a plate, the entire plate must be re-grounded, without smoking or +whitening, so that the previously etched lines show through. Noticeably +heavier etched lines appear at only a few places on this plate, +principally in the grass at the lower right. It is probable that +Rembrandt used a number of etching needles of different widths. We do +not see the typical changes in the lines produced by stopping-out or +re-etching. Re-etching of new lines crossing previously etched lines +often causes a slight penetration of acid under the ground into the old +lines. This shows in the printing as a dark spot at the point of +crossing. Such an effect is not found in this print. A similar result in +the cross-hatching at the lower left is caused instead by drypoint lines +crossing etched lines. + +No direct evidence has been found concerning the acid corrosive used by +Rembrandt to bite his plate.[28] Only tentative conclusions can be drawn +from this and other prints. The etched lines in the _Landscape with a +hay barn_ ... appear to be bitten with a fairly strong acid. The lines +are relatively broad in relation to their depth, a strong-acid effect. +Furthermore, illustrations of some of Rembrandt's original plates from +this period show a similar broad line.[29] In addition, in the +photograph (figure 14) of at least one of the plates there is seen a +peculiarly ragged line which is often caused by bubbles formed on the +plate by acid action.[30] This appearance of bubbles is characteristic +only of the strong acids. Of the acid formulae suggested by Bosse in +1645, only one--a distillate of vitriol, saltpeter, and alum--appears to +be strong enough to produce the observed effects.[31] Generally +speaking, Rembrandt's later etchings show evidence of stronger acid +biting than his earlier work, which has more of the characteristics of +weak mordants.[32] Certainly, a strong acid would produce a much +speedier biting and bolder etched lines, providing him with a solid +foundation for his fine drypoint work, and enabling him to work +continuously, with a minimum of delay. + +[Illustration: FIGURE 13 + +Detail of Rembrandt's finished print, _Landscape with a hay barn and a +flock of sheep_, lower right, showing lines of pure etching. Enlarged 10 +times. (Smithsonian photo 59387.)] + +[Illustration: FIGURE 14 + +Detail of the etched copper plate for Rembrandt's print, _Christ seated +disputing with the doctors_. After Coppier, p. 117. (Smithsonian photo +59395.)] + +[Illustration: FIGURE 15 + +Detail of Rembrandt's finished print, _Landscape with a hay barn and a +flock of sheep_, far right, showing drypoint drawing of sheep and post. +Enlarged 10 times. (Smithsonian photo 59388.)] + +Rembrandt's use of drypoint is, as Jakob Rosenberg says, "the most +important innovation in Rembrandt's mature graphic work."[33] After +etching his skeletal design on the plate, he went to work with his +drypoint needles--long, stiff, iron instruments--sharpened to a fine +point. An artist generally has several available, so that he does not +have to stop and re-sharpen in the course of his work. Rembrandt +evidently went even further and deliberately used dull needles to obtain +certain light line effects. + +When the finished print is compared with the sketch of the etched lines +alone, it can be seen how vital the drypoint is to Rembrandt's whole +conception. The needle held vertically and slightly dulled, for +instance, produced the light shadings on the central hillock at lower +left. The sharp needle, held at an angle, threw up the burr which +printed as the rich blacks on both sides of the hay barn, along the bank +of the stream, and on the road at left center. The sheep and post at the +far right were completely drawn with drypoint, as was the shepherd of +the flock at left center (figure 16). It is interesting to note that the +flock originally had two shepherds, evidently a man and a woman, +standing at the center of the road and behind the flock.[34] These +figures were drawn in the ground and etched in the first stage of the +print. Rembrandt then must have decided that their proportion was wrong +for his composition. He reworked the area, using a scraper or burnisher +to flatten out his etched lines, and covered the remaining ghosts of the +figures with a mesh of drypoint cross-hatching. He then added the single +small figure of the shepherd boy entirely in drypoint. + +[Illustration: FIGURE 16 + +Detail of Rembrandt's finished print, _Landscape with a hay barn and a +flock of sheep_, showing shepherd in drypoint, erased figures behind +flock, signature, and date. Enlarged 5 times. (Smithsonian photo +59389.)] + +Houbraken, writing in 1718, talked of Rembrandt's technical secrets, +"which he would not let his pupils see."[35] In truth, there are no +secrets to this artist's _technique_ in the etching medium. But his +mastery of the _art_ goes far beyond communicable secrets. + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[1] Hind 241 (+A. M. Hind+, _A Catalogue of Rembrandt's +Etchings_, 2 vol., rev. ed., London, 1923), Bartsch 224 (+Adam Bartsch+, +_Catalogue raisonne de toutes les estampes ... de Rembrandt_ ..., +Vienna, 1797). The particular example studied here is an impression of +the second state (of two) in the collection of the United States +National Museum, Smithsonian Institution. + +The author wishes to express his deepest gratitude to Jacob Kainen, +curator of graphic arts at the Smithsonian Institution, for his acute +knowledge, unfailing helpfulness, and encouragement in the preparation +of this paper. + +[2] P. G. Hamerton, for one, calls special attention to the +technical importance of this print: "I recommend the student to +familiarize himself with the workmanship of this plate...." (_The +Etchings of Rembrandt_, London, 1894, p. 71.) + +[3] The date is unquestionably difficult to read. Bartsch +misread it as 1636 (op. cit., p. 148). Charles Middleton (_Descriptive +Catalogue of the Etched Work of Rembrandt van Ryn_, London, 1878, p. +299) was the first to identify the date as 1650. This has been accepted +by all modern authorities except George Bioerklund (_Rembrandt's +Etchings: True and False_, Stockholm, 1955, no. 52-A, p. 103) who reads +it as 1652. This seems unlikely to me, not only on the great stylistic +affinity of this print to Rembrandt's unquestioned works of 1650, but +also on the basis of my own reading of the date. The presumed digit "2" +is quite unlike the "2" in Hind's 257 and 263, Rembrandt's only dated +prints of 1652. (_See_ figure 16.) + +[4] The general location of this scene, as well as many others +in Rembrandt's oeuvre, has been identified by Frits Lugt (_Mit Rembrandt +in Amsterdam_, Berlin, 1920, pp. 136-140, revised from the original +Dutch, _Wandelingen met Rembrandt in en om Amsterdam_, Amsterdam, 1915; +see also +Lugt+, "Rembrandt's Amsterdam," _Print Collector's Quarterly_, +April 1915, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 111-169, and the attached map). + +[5] +Cornelis Hofstede de Groot+, ed., _Die Urkunden ueber +Rembrandt (1575-1721)_, The Hague, 1906. On the lawsuit, see nos. 113, +117, 118, 120-3, 130, and 165. Geertghe was taken to the institution on +July 4, 1650. + +[6] On the financial troubles, starting in 1653, see ibid., +nos. 140 ff. + +[7] The exact number is, of course, impossible to determine, +because of many uncertainties of attribution and dating. A. M. Hind, op. +cit., lists 236 prints before the year 1650, which seems as accurate a +count as is possible. + +[8] According to Hind, op. cit., the 14 landscapes nos. 237-260 +and 262-264 are attributable to the years 1650-52. Of the 27 prints from +these three years, 16 are actually signed and dated by Rembrandt. Nine +of these 16 are landscapes. + +[9] E.g., +C. J. Holmes+, "The Development of Rembrandt as an +Etcher," _Burlington Magazine_ (August 1906), vol. 9, no. 41, p. 313. +The well-known story of his having drawn "Six's Bridge" (Hind 209) on +the plate while the servant went for the mustard is also often cited +(e.g., +Hind+, op. cit., p. 95), but if true appears to be atypical. + +[10] +Otto Benesch+, _The Drawings of Rembrandt_, 6 vol., +London, 1954-57. + +[11] Benesch no. 1225, Groningen (Netherlands) Museum, inv. no. +210, dated about 1650, the wash added by another hand. This drawing was +formerly in the personal collection of Cornelis Hofstede de Groot and +was first reproduced and discussed by Otto Hirschmann in "Die +Handzeichnungen-Sammlung Dr. Hofstede de Groot im Haag, II," _Der +Cicerone_ (Leipzig, January 1917), vol. 9, no. 1/2, pp. 21-22. + +[12] Benesch 850, _A Clump of Trees_, The Hermitage, Leningrad, +about 1648-50, and Benesch 1246, _Farm Building Among Trees_, Albertina, +Vienna, inv. no. 8873, Hofstede de Groot 1497 (_Die Handzeichnungen +Rembrandts_ ..., Haarlem, 1906), about 1650-51. + +[13] Benesch 1236, _Farmstead with a Hay Barn_, Copenhagen, +about 1650. + +[14] Benesch 1226, _Farm Buildings Beside a Road with Distant +Farmstead_, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Hofstede de Groot 1138, about +1650, with later additions. Ludwig Muenz (_Rembrandt's Etchings_, 2 +vols., London, 1952, no. 159, vol. 2, p. 84) cites two drawings, one in +the Ashmolean, one in the University Gallery, Oxford. Since the two +museums are now one and the same, Muenz appears to have confused two +listings of the same drawing. Mr. Hugh Macandrew of the Ashmolean Museum +has very kindly confirmed, in a letter to the author, that in their +collection there is only the one drawing which is similar to this print. +There is yet another drawing, _Farm with Hay Barn_, in the Bonnat +collection at the Louvre, Paris, Hofstede de Groot 764, which is cited +by Hind as a study sketch. Though very similar to this print, in +reverse, it is considered a school piece by both Lugt and Benesch. It is +quite possible that one of Rembrandt's pupils accompanied him on his +walks and sketched many of the same subjects as the master. The drawing +reproduced in +Lugt+, _Mit Rembrandt_ ..., op. cit., fig. 87, is also +not by Rembrandt. + +[15] Joachim von Sandrart, a former pupil of Rembrandt, writing +in 1675, quoted in +Hofstede de Groot+, _Die ... Urkunden_, op. cit., +no. 329, p. 392. + +[16] The plate for the print under discussion here is not known +to have survived. There are, however, still some 79 Rembrandt plates +whose present locations are known. Of these, 75 are in the collection of +Robert Lee Humber, on deposit at the North Carolina Museum of Art, +Raleigh, North Carolina. These are discussed at some length by Andre +Charles Coppier (_Les eaux-fortes de Rembrandt_, Paris, 1922, pp. +94-96). He gives the chemical content of the plate for the _Presentation +in the Temple_ (Hind 162, about 1640), as 95% copper with impurities of +tin, lead, zinc, arsenic, and silver. This may presumably be taken as +typical. +Muenz+, op. cit., vol. 2, p. 47, gives a listing of the +surviving plates, but mistakenly presumes the Humber plates to be in the +Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. As a matter of interest, the plate of the +print, _The Gold-Weigher_ (Hind 167), said by Muenz to be in the +Rosenwald collection, Philadelphia, is not and never has been in that +collection. It is completely unknown to Mr. Lessing J. Rosenwald and his +curator. Its present whereabouts is unknown to the author. + +[17] _The Whole Art of Drawing, Painting, Limning, and Etching. +Collected out of the Choicest Italian and German Authors.... Originally +invented and written by the famous Italian Painter Odoardo Fialetti, +Painter of Boloign. Published for the Benefit of all ingenuous Gentlemen +and Artists by Alexander Brown Practitioner. London, Printed for Peter +Stint at the Signe of the White Horse in Giltspurre Street, and Simon +Miller at the Starre in St. Paul's Churchyard, MDCLX._ Page 33. London, +1660. Quoted by +Muenz+, op. cit., vol. 2, p. 208, who first discovered +the reference. Since Fialetti died in 1638, the reference to Rembrandt's +ground is likely to be by Brown or an anonymous contemporary editor. + +[18] +Abraham Bosse+, _Traicte des manieres de graver en taille +douce_ ..., Paris, 1645, p. 41. Bosse's soft-ground formula, for +comparison's sake, is three parts wax, two parts mastic, and one part +asphaltum, which is very close to the cited Rembrandt ground. + +[19] Numerous similar grounds are given in +E. S. Lumsden+, +_The Art of Etching_ (London: Seeley Service and Co., 1924); reprint +(New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1962), pp. 35-38. + +[20] Loc. cit. (footnote 17). + +[21] Some etchers, however, prefer this effect. Cf. +Lumsden+, +op. cit., p. 42. + +[22] +Muenz+, op. cit., vol. 2, p. 13, quotes this letter +without giving the source. Evidently this is the first written reference +to white ground. + +[23] Op. cit., pp. 46-48. Knowledge of the process seems to +have disappeared completely during the 18th and 19th centuries. Hubert +Herkomer, writing in 1892, believed that he had invented the white +ground for the first time (_Etching and Mezzotint Engraving_, London, +1892, pp. 4 and 25). + +[24] The etching is Hind 42. The drawing (Benesch 21, Hofstede +de Groot 893) is in the British Museum. The black chalk has been +confirmed (see footnote 25). It is also clear that the backing is not +graphite, which would, of course, show up on a black ground as well as a +white one. + +[25] The etching is Hind 187. The drawing (Benesch 758, +Hofstede de Groot 896) is in the British Museum. Some scholarly +misinformation has unfortunately been passed on for years. +Muenz+, op. +cit., vol. 2, p. 65, cites Jan Six ("Rembrandt's Vorbereiding ...," +_Onze Kunst_, 1908, II, p. 53), who in turn cites the personal +observation of A. M. Hind of the British Museum, to the effect that this +drawing of Anslo was backed with black chalk. The two drawings had +apparently not been lifted from their mounts in something like sixty +years. In answer to the author's inquiry, Mr. J. K. Rowlands, Assistant +Keeper, Department of Prints and Drawings, the British Museum, very +kindly wrote: "I can now tell you about the backs of H. 42 and H. 187 +[that is, the drawings for these two prints], which have now been +lifted. The reverse of _The Woman Bathing_ [_Diana at the Bath_] has the +remains of black unrefined chalk upon it and the portrait of Anslo is +backed with Ochre tempera. I think this news will interest you." I am +most grateful to Mr. Rowlands and his staff for their trouble and +kindness. + +[26] An excellent example of this type of line is seen in the +horizon lines on the left, which in this case were added only after +several proofs had been pulled from the plate. The addition of these +lines constitutes the difference between the recorded first and second +states of this print. + +[27] The documents on this story were first published by +Bredius in 1909 ("Rembrandt als Plaatsnijder," _Oud-Holland_, v. 27, pp. +112 f.) and have been frequently cited since then. The print is the +portrait of Jan Antonides van der Linden (Hind 268). + +[28] Confusion has arisen over a note, clearly in Rembrandt's +hand, on one of his drawings (Benesch 1351, Hofstede de Groot 763, dated +about 1654-55). The Dutch text is given in +Benesch+, op. cit., vol. 6, +p. 374. It reads, "In order to etch ...," and gives a recipe consisting +of turpentine and turpentine oil. This, of course, could not possibly be +a mordant. Muenz discusses it (op. cit., vol. 2, p. 14) and concludes +that with the addition of mastic, this could be a kind of stop-out +varnish. We are not likely to come closer to an answer for this cryptic +inscription. + +[29] +Coppier+, op. cit. + +[30] _Ibid._, p. 117. Detail of plate for Hind 277, dated +1654. + +[31] +Bosse+, op. cit., pp. 5 and 11. Vitriol is copper or iron +sulfate, saltpeter is potassium nitrate, and alum is an aluminum sulfate +salt. Bosse's other two acids are distilled pure vinegar (acetic acid) +and a boiled mixture of vinegar and chloride salts. Both are relatively +weak. My thanks to Dr. Robert P. Multhauf for his advice on 17th-century +chemistry. + +[32] +Felix Brunner+ (_A Handbook of Graphic Reproduction +Processes_, New York: Hastings House, 1962, p. 124), suggests that +Rembrandt may have used ferric chloride, a weaker mordant, around 1640. + +[33] +Rosenberg+, _Rembrandt: Life and Work_ (London: Phaidon +Press, rev. ed., 1964), p. 330. + +[34] My gratitude to Jacob Kainen for first pointing out the +existence of these disembodied spirits. + +[35] Arnold Houbraken, quoted in +Hofstede de Groot+, _Die +Urkunden_ ..., op. cit., no. 407, p. 471. + + + + +U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1966 + +For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing +Office Washington, D. 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