Rembrandt: 400 Years

Cleveland – A rare collection of etchings by Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) representing the multi-faceted talent of this master will be on display at the Contessa Gallery to commemorate the 400^th Anniversary of Rembrandt’s birth.

Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn, a Dutch painter, draughtsman and etcher, equaled in fame the great Italian masters, such as Leonardo DaVinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian. His name still symbolizes a whole period of art history rightfully known as “Holland’s Golden Age”. In 1970-71 a great exhibition in Paris was devoted to it under the eloquent title Le Siècle de Rembrandt. A century before, a popular work of cultural history by C. Busken Huet referred to the Netherlands as “the Land of Rembrandt”.  Very few artists in history have been as prolific and virtuosic with the brush.

Rembrandt was not only a gifted painter but also an inspired graphic artist: he has probably never been surpassed as an etcher, and he often seems inimitable as a draughtsman. He acquired a European reputation in his own lifetime precisely because of his graphic work which, because it could be reproduced, was much more widely seen than his paintings or drawings. Through his keen use of draughtsmanship and lighting (chiaroscuro) he created three dimensions on a one dimensional surface with only the use of black and white, using the etching needle as if it were a paintbrush.

There is no precedent in his experimental approach to the etching process itself. Nobody before him had made such an exhaustive and varied use of its technical possibilities.  His subjects also reflect his manifold talent and interests. He painted, drew and etched portraits, landscapes, figures and animals, but, above all, scenes of biblical and secular history and mythology. Many artists that came after Rembrandt (such as Pissarro, Cassatt, Degas, Manet, Chagall and Picasso) looked to his work for inspiration in creating their own prints and revered him as the master etcher.

Today, Rembrandt’s etchings are represented in every major museum in the world, including but not limited to the British Museum, The Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Rijksmuseum, the Hermitage and others.

In his lifetime Rembrandt van Rijn produced over 290 etchings. The Contessa Gallery will be exhibiting over 40 of them, representing the various subjects, states and price ranges. This is a unique opportunity to acquire a work by this unsurpassed master that will become a centerpiece of any art collection.