Jan Uytenbogaert, “The Goldweigher”
Medium
Etching and drypoint on paper
Dimensions
Image: 23.7 × 20.3 cm (9 3/8 × 8 in.); Plate: 24.9 × 20.4 cm (9 13/16 × 8 1/16 in.); Sheet: 26 × 21.5 cm (10 1/4 × 8 1/2 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
29283
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This print of the tax collector Jan Uytenbogaert marks one of Rembrandt van Rijn’s first uses of drypoint, not as a corrective tool but as a supplement to an etching. Here the technique accentuates the velvety quality of the sitter’s rich fur garment. Rembrandt presented the man as a noble and meticulous professional, while simultaneously hinting at his true nature: Uytenbogaert, seated in the midst of an office complete with a fine oil painting and a rich tablecloth, reaches out to the bag of g...
About the Artist
Rembrandt van Rijn · 1606–1669
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606–1669) stands as one of the greatest visual artists in the history of Western art and the most important Dutch painter of the 17th century. Born in Leiden to a prosperous miller's family, Rembrandt transformed painting through his revolutionary use of light and shadow, his psychological depth in portraiture, and his elevation of etching to a fine art. His approx...