Art Institute of Chicago
Kostverloren Castle in Decay
Rembrandt van RijnLinkedCulture matchlcp-7924f2657395
- Date
- c. 1652
- Medium
- Pen and brown ink, with brush and brown wash, heightened with touches of opaque white watercolor, on cream laid paper
- Culture
- Holland
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Institution
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Object ID
- 12909
From the Art Institute of Chicago record
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.
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Provenance & credit
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- Credit line
- Clarence Buckingham Collection
- Provenance
- King Friedrich August II of Saxony (1797–1854), Dresden [stamp (Lugt 971), recto, lower right, in black]; and by descent, to at least 1925 [Friese, Lilienfeld, and Wichmann 1925]. Willem J. R. Dreesmann (1885–1954), Amsterdam; sold, F. Muller & Co., Mar. 22–25, 1960, lot 26, to Richard Zinser, New York; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1961.
Linked open data
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- Object type
- AAT300033973
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