Rembrandt — Selected Works

A Young Man with a Chain

Rembrandt van Rijn — 1625

This painting is an example of a tronie , a Dutch word meaning “head” or “facial expression.” Tronies were not intended to be identifiable portraits, but artistic investigations of facial appearance and fanciful costume. Particularly in the years around 1630, Rembrandt used this popular format to explore different lighting effects and facial expressions. Here, the strong contrast of light and shade shapes the contours of the young man’s face; unusual accessories such as the striped scarf and glittering pendant on a jeweled chain add an exotic touch. Although this painting bears Rembrandt’s monogram, the authorship is not certain. Some scholars have attributed it to Isaac de Joudreville (1613–1648), a pupil and associate of Rembrandt who painted comparable tronies in a similarly smooth and elegant style.

Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 · Source image ↗

Portrait of a Woman

Rembrandt van Rijn — 1630

At the age of 25, Rembrandt moved from his hometown of Leiden to the bustling city of Amsterdam. Within a few years he had become one of the city’s most successful portrait painters, creating remarkably vivid likenesses that seemed to express the personality and soul of the sitter. Here, Rembrandt used smooth, fluid brushstrokes to recreate the soft texture of the woman’s skin. In contrast, thicker, more textured strokes draw attention to the lavish display of her lace collar and gold jewelry—details sure to please a wealthy client. The extraordinary demand at that time for a portrait by Rembrandt meant that in many cases (including, probably, this painting) he called upon assistants to help complete the work.

Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 · Source image ↗

Old Man with a Gold Chain

Rembrandt van Rijn — 1631

This compelling figure—fancifully adorned with a steel gorget (armor protecting the throat and upper chest), golden chain, and plumed beret—represents a new commodity on the Northern European art market: a tronie , or character study. While artists had created such studies since the 1500s, Rembrandt and his colleague Jan Lievens made these images into more affordable alternatives to portraits, heightening their appeal by introducing bold visual elements like dramatic lighting, whimsical costumes, and dynamic poses. Rembrandt and his colleagues painted this model frequently; although he has been called “Rembrandt’s father,” recent research suggests that the “Old Man” may have been the keeper of an almshouse in Leiden, the Netherlands. Although tronies were less expensive than commissioned portraits, Rembrandt invested just as much skill in them. The attention given to the folds of flesh beneath the eyes, the prickly, tightly trimmed beard, and the highlights in the gorget and gold chain reveal a talented painter engaged in the joys of painting. The prominent gold chain appears in several works from Rembrandt’s Leiden and Amsterdam periods: He must have had one in his studio. But unlike his acclaimed peers Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck , Rembrandt never received one as a gift from a royal patron. Text: Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image ↗

Jan Uytenbogaert, “The Goldweigher”

Rembrandt van Rijn — 1639

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 gold presented to him, his hand grasping it in an almost lascivious manner. Text: Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image ↗

The Monk in the Cornfield

Rembrandt van Rijn — 1641

Rembrandt was never shy about showing naked bodies or erotic subjects in a realistic way. In the 1640s he created several scenes of courting couples outdoors, and The Monk in the Cornfield is one of the most sexually charged of these prints. Despite the print’s tiny size, the graphic depiction of an unchaste monk and an enthusiastic milkmaid coupling surreptitiously makes for a powerful sculptural grouping. The etched suggestion of a farmer with a scythe in the background reinforces the temporary nature of their haven in the wheat field and emphasizes the voyeurism of the viewer. Text: Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image ↗

The Three Trees

Rembrandt van Rijn — 1643

Rembrandt’s masterful Three Trees is the artist’s largest landscape print, an atmospheric etching and drypoint creation that epitomizes the ever-changing drama of the outdoors. In the face of nature, the human element is reduced to a group of miniscule figures, including a fisherman and his uninterested female companion on the left, various cowherds, and two distant figures on the hills beyond. An elegantly attired couple embrace tenderly in a private bower on the lower right, seeking companionship as well as shelter against the coming storm. Text: Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image ↗

Kostverloren Castle in Decay

Rembrandt van Rijn — 1647

Rembrandt and his contemporaries shared a fascination with the Kostverloren estate, in part because of the successive misfortunes that its owners seemed to endure. Already by Rembrandt’s time it had taken on its name, which translates as “lost expenses” or, more colloquially, “money pit.” The site faced another setback when much of the castle was destroyed in a fire. After this damage—and before its eventual repair—Rembrandt entered the grounds of the castle and recorded its diminished state. His emphasis on decay is made clear by the felled tree in foreground; its strident horizontality sets off the faded majesty of the castle’s once-grand structures. Text: Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image ↗

The Shell

Rembrandt van Rijn — 1650

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 seashells, consisting of 38 plates. Rembrandt’s shell could have been inspired by Hollar’s work, though Rembrandt’s decision to render the shell in a three-dimensional space represents a marked difference between the two etchings. Text: Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image ↗

Landscape with Three Gabled Cottages Beside a Road

Rembrandt van Rijn — 1650

Perhaps the most prolific etcher in history, Rembrandt van Rijn created nearly 300 etchings. Most of his landscape etchings were done in the 1640s, with a few, such as this one, executed in the early 1650s. Rembrandt used his experimental etched and drypoint lines to create tonal effects. The way that the trees appear to shade the road and cottages adds a calming luminosity to the image. Text: Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image ↗

Landscape with a Square Tower

Rembrandt van Rijn — 1650

Throughout his lengthy career, Rembrandt carefully meted out his prints so as to create a profitable market for them. The popular genres of the day influenced his printmaking choices, and he produced numerous landscape views of his surroundings in Amsterdam and beyond. The artist probably created Landscape with a Square Tower after sketches made from life, etching and finishing the work with softer drypoint touches in the studio. Text: Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image ↗

St. Francis Beneath a Tree Praying

Rembrandt van Rijn — 1657

Rembrandt saturated the dark, inky forest of his Saint Francis beneath a Tree Praying with velvety burr along drypoint lines and deep tone wiped selectively throughout the plate. Instead of the Dutch Reformed Church, this image reflects the vision of the Roman Catholic Church in its emphasis on the lives of the saints and therefore may have been a private commission. The unusually elderly Saint Francis gazes toward a large crucifix, which might be real or imagined, within the forest glade and speaks directly to it. With his head angled and mouth open, Francis is hardly passive in prayer but rather an active advocate of Christianity. Text: Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image ↗

Reclining Female Nude

Rembrandt van Rijn — 1658

Scholars have widely debated Rembrandt’s choice of either a light- or dark-skinned model for this magnificently ambiguous etching. In the 18th century, its given title changed to variations of Reclining Negress. Rembrandt did portray an African model around 1630, but it is unclear if this much-later print represented another. The stark contrast between the cavernous darkness and the bright bed linens suggests the artist’s keen interest in depicting the play of light on skin. Rembrandt’s characteristic use of a Japanese paper support further enhances the heat of the very real and very warm, naked body. Text: Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image ↗

Jupiter and Antiope: The Larger Plate

Rembrandt van Rijn — 1659

Slightly later than Rembrandt’s al fresco courtship scenes of the 1640s, this mythological outdoor work depicts one of the god Jupiter’s many mortal conquests. Jupiter appears disguised as a horned and wreathed satyr who comes upon the nymph Antiope slumbering in the nude in a woodland glade. Antiope remains asleep as he delicately peels away her covering sheet and examines her body appreciatively. The relationship between the perspective of the viewer and of the figures is close; we seem nearly to enter the glade, and Antiope’s bed, along with the intrusive god Text: Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image ↗

Seated Female Nude

Rembrandt van Rijn — 1660

For Rembrandt van Rijn, simple honesty of vision and sureness of line were far more important than the classical glorification of the nude. He focused on this subject only during certain phases of his career, and very few of the resulting studies, which he used to prepare biblical or mythological representations, survive today. This strong form is a late work, and one of only four extant drawings of the female nude attributed to Rembrandt with certainty. Unlike the almost scientific realism of his earlier nudes, his late studies are less detailed and more painterly. He attained a maximum of expression with a minimum of means. Rendered with a swift treatment by brush and the blunt reed pen favored by the artist in his late years, this ample figure projects a forceful presence. Her face is generalized, and her feelings are suggested through her contemplative pose. Her simple shape and external immobility seem to increase the viewer’s sense of her inner vitality. In Seated Female Nude , Rembrandt’s penstrokes and brushwork are integrated with the utmost lightness and perfection; the pen stresses structural features, while the brush provides a transparent, atmospheric tone linking figure and space. Text: Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image ↗

Noah's Ark

Rembrandt van Rijn — 1660

Among his most expressive uses of the reed pen, this drawing is a fully realized depiction of Noah’s family boarding the ark prior to the great flood described in the Old Testament’s Book of Genesis. The vessel occupies the entire width of the sheet, and Rembrandt emphasized the act of departure by placing figures in the lower left corner who gesture inward, as if indicating where they will soon go. Rembrandt drew a borderline—albeit somewhat haphazardly—around the perimeter of his composition, indicating his satisfaction with his interpretation of the well-known biblical subject. This type of multifigure scene with a literary source provided the standard so many of his pupils aimed to match. Text: Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image ↗