Rembrandt's etchings

A seventeenth-century artist lived in a world full of prints. Many houses had prints hanging on the walls, framed or pinned, and stored in wrappers, folders and – loose or pasted – in bound albums. They were sold over the counter and by pedlars singly or in series. Prints were purchased not only for their subject or for purposes of study, but also because of the fame of the printmaker or designer, as a means of getting to know his art. Artists themselves were always among the most enthusiastic from prints they could learn at a distance about the creations of renowned masters and acquire a wealth of motifs and figures to use in their own work. Some were content to see a few examples of others’ skills, but there were also insatiable enthusiasts who sought to build up a comprehensive fund of prints going back to the invention of the medium. Rembrandt Hermenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669) belonged to the latter category. What he accumulated, driven by a passionate collector’s zest, can be reconstructed to some extent on the basis of the 1656 inventory of his property. The riches of his kunstcaemer (art cabinat) included scores of prints and drawings – art on paper, as it was described – that he kept in a large number of albums.