Rembrandt's Father
n.d.
Medium
Mezzotint in black on paper
Dimensions
Image: 31.3 × 25.8 cm (12 3/8 × 10 3/16 in.); Sheet, cut within platemark: 35.6 × 25.7 cm (14 1/16 × 10 1/8 in.)
Classification
mezzotint
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
46431
Art Historical Context
James McArdell’s “Rembrandt’s Father” is a striking mezzotint that pays homage to the Dutch master through the lens of eighteenth-century British printmaking. Created in rich black ink on paper, the work captures the dignified features of Harman Gerritszoon van Rijn, Rembrandt’s father, whose likeness had already become iconic through the artist’s own paintings and etchings. McArdell, an Irish engraver celebrated for his reproductive prints after Old Masters, translated this intimate subject into a tonal medium prized for its velvety depths and subtle gradations of light. Mezzotint’s distinct...