Getty Museum
An Artist in His Studio
Creator
Rembrandt Harmensz. van RijnDutch Artist · 1606–1669
All works by this person →The ninth child of well-to-do millers, Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn was born in Leiden on July 15, 1606. In 1620, after two years at Leiden University, Rembrandt became the pupil of Jacob van Swanenburgh. He subsequently moved to Amsterdam to apprentice with the leading history painter in the Netherlands, Pieter Lastman, absorbing his colorful palette and eloquent narrative approach. After six mon
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- about 1630
- Medium
- Pen and brown ink
- Culture
- Dutch
- Department
- Drawings
- Institution
- Getty Museum
Using only pen and ink, which shows every mistake, Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn created the space and volume of an artist's studio with a spare use of line. He drew the easel and the painting first, as the point of reference for the artist and the other objects. He later added the perspective lines that converge beyond the right edge of the paper; they served to confirm his intuition about the correct construction of objects in space. The heavier reinforcing lines at the bottoms of the chair and easel indicate adjustments to their placement. Some scholars have labeled this drawing as a self-portrait in which Rembrandt himself views a panel from a distance, developing a mental image of the whole picture before he begins to work. Alternatively, other scholars argue that it depicts Rembrandt's friend and fellow Leiden artist Jan Lievens, who began his pictures by making a rough sketch in paint directly on the canvas.
The authoritative record is held by Getty Museum. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.
Get printable QR codesHide QR codes
Open QR codes for this object page and the museum record. They stay collapsed until needed.
Related across collections
Semantically similar works from Getty Museum and other institutions.