Art Institute of Chicago

Kostverloren Castle in Decay

Rembrandt van Rijn

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

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.

The authoritative record is held by Art Institute of Chicago. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.