CODART, Dutch and Flemish art in museums worldwide

Rembrandt gespiegeld: een blik in het brein van de meester

Rembrandt reflected: a glimpse into the master's mind Exhibition: 11 December 2009 - 21 March 2010

From the museum website, 25 November 2009

Art lovers regard Rembrandt’s etchings as highlights of his oeuvre. They admire his spontaneous drawing style, his dramatic light effects and his bold experiments with the technique. Despite their small size, Rembrandt’s etchings are often just as ambitious in design as his paintings. What is often forgotten is that Rembrandt’s prints are the mirror image of what the artist saw when he was drawing with the etching needle—the image is reversed when the plate is printed. Rembrandt did not worry about this when he made an etching: he captured his compositions on the copper plate exactly as he did on a sheet of drawing paper. For the first time ever, Rembrandt’s most important etchings are being exhibited in the Rembrandt House alongside their mirror images. This is a unique opportunity to see these masterpieces exactly as Rembrandt conceived them. Rembrandt expert Ernst van de Wetering explains the surprising new insights into Rembrandt’s approach to his work that this exhibition provides.

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