Rembrandt - printmaking report



Rembrandt Harmenszoen van Rijn (1606-1669) was a Dutch draughtsman, painter and printmaker. His reputation as the greatest etcher in the history of the medium was established in his lifetime and has not been questioned since.
I have selected two of his 27 self portraits which he etched. Both were done in 1630 and the top one is a self portrait of him smiling, and the bottom is a self portrait of him frowning.
These two etchings caught my eye as whenever I do a self portrait I am frowning in concentration and the one time I tried to draw myself smiling, I looked ridiculous, which I thought was just like Rembrandt! I love the freedom of his marks in both these etchings. There are lots of scribbly type marks placed in the right place to make very effective pictures. For darker areas he just makes more marks. I am surprised to find pictures like these in the 17th century, they seem very modern and in some ways they seem like elaborate doodles. I also like them as I feel that the style is accessible to many art students. Most 17th century art I would not be able to emulate as it is way beyond my talent and also most of it I would not want to emulate - however I would like to create portraits along the lines of Rembrandts etchings above!

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