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The image displays intricate, swirling lines and textured shading to create an abstract scene. On the left side are fine lines resembling branches and leaves, with a small figure nearby. On the right side is a large, densely shaded form reminiscent of mountains or a rock formation. The elements come together to suggest landscapes and nature through imaginative shapes and line work.

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Rembrandt van Rijn

Dutch, 1606–1669

Sheet with Two Studies: a Tree, and the Upper Part of a Head of the Artist Wearing a Velvet Capc. 1642

etching on laid paper

sheet (sheet trimmed to platemark): 8 × 7.1 cm (3 1/8 × 2 13/16 in.)

Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington · 1943.3.7202

Rembrandt van Rijn made this in about 1642, aged 36. It is now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. More about this work

See it in the galleries

Format

Archival pigment inks on Hahnemühle Photo Rag, a 308 gsm cotton paper, with a white border.

Size
Size
16 × 20 in · image 13¾ × 15¾
Paper
Hahnemühle Photo Rag, 308 gsm
Price
$56

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About this work

The image displays intricate, swirling lines and textured shading to create an abstract scene. On the left side are fine lines resembling branches and leaves, with a small figure nearby. On the right side is a large, densely shaded form reminiscent of mountains or a rock formation. The elements come together to suggest landscapes and nature through imaginative shapes and line work.

Description from the National Gallery of Art.

Rembrandt van Rijn made this in about 1642, aged 36. It is now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

How it was made

Etching
The artist draws with a needle through a waxy coating on a copper plate, and acid bites the exposed lines. The plate is then inked, wiped and printed under pressure, so the line keeps the freedom of drawing.
Laid paper
Handmade on a mould of close-set wires, which leave fine parallel lines you can see when the sheet is held to the light.

Rembrandt van Rijn

Dutch, 1606–1669 · Born in Leiden; died in Amsterdam.

Rembrandt trained in Leiden and Amsterdam, settled in Amsterdam in the early 1630s and became the city’s most sought-after portraitist. His later work grows rougher and more searching, with thick paint, deep shadow and faces that seem lost in thought, as in Aristotle with a Bust of Homer, painted for a Sicilian collector. He was also the leading etcher of his age, reworking plates through many states and making the medium as expressive as painting.

Written by Ochre Editions.

See all 14 works by Rembrandt van Rijn

Rights and the museum’s record

Public domain. The National Gallery of Art has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.

Object number
1943.3.7202
Credit
Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
Type
Print
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