Rembrandt

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669) was a Dutch painter and etcher. He is considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European Art and the most important in Dutch history. He did many etchings in his time, on biblical themes, genre, landscapes, self-portraits and nudes. Here I am going to look at one of his etchings The Three Trees 1643. This etching is the largest and regarded as his best. From what I have researched there is two techniques here drypoint (done with an etching needle) and engraving (done with a burin).

I like the way Rembrant has done this by rubbing the ink away from the plate, in more places than others, to create showdow.I do find it very dark in places, mainly where the trees are in the foreground and I find trying to find  the people in this piece of work really difficult because of this. On the left hand side of this you can see scratched lines,  which I think gives the impression that it’s either raining or maybe light coming down, but I was looking at the information on this it and it tells me that this etching was something but may have been an abandoned  etching that he had started before.

Overall I don’t find this etching very inspiring, how ever I regonise and appreciate the skill and techniques he has used. I find it to dark and difficult to define and I feel it’s hard to feel that I I’ve had a good look at it. I do like that there is contrast between light and dark and the straight lines (top left) give drama.