The Shell
Medium
Etching on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 9.7 × 13.2 cm (3 7/8 × 5 1/4 in.); Sheet: 9.9 × 13.4 cm (3 15/16 × 5 5/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
29253
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
In the 17th century, seashells became popular collectible objects because they were considered rare and exotic. They also became common subjects for still-life paintings known as Vanitas, which symbolically represent the transience of life. The etchings of both Wenceslaus Hollar and Rembrandt van Rijn could represent the simultaneous beauty and fragility of existence. While still lifes in general are exceedingly rare in Rembrandt’s work, Hollar’s etching (1996.609) comes from a series of seashel...
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...