Rembrandt at Naples Art Institute

Naples Art Institute is hosting Masterpieces in Black and White, an exhibition of etchings from the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam. 

 

Rembrandt began as a painter and added etching to his skills when he was 20.  He was largely self-taught as an etcher.  Many of his works are extremely small.

Naples Art provides magnifying glasses so visitors can see the details on these small etchings.  This is a 1636 etching called Self Portrait with Saskia.  Saskia was his wife and one of his favorite subjects.

It is amazing to me that Rembrandt had the ability to control his stylus so well when working on etchings this small.

Rembrandt etched, sketched and painted himself repeatedly.  This one is from 1642, the same year he delivered his masterpiece, The Night Watch, to the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.  It is also the year that Saskia died.

This is one of Rembrandt's larger etchings, A Scholar in His Study, from 1652.