Rembrandt: Thinking on Paper


Insightful exhibition at the British Museum showing how Rembrandt used work on paper to experiment with compositions and ideas as well as considering them works in their own right.

As ever with shows in the print gallery the commentaries were excellent, taking you through the various themes and techniques. There were lots of examples where different states of a print were shown and one where the plate and print were both there.  There was also one example of a portrait drawing and print together.

The drawings were lovely and I particularly liked a picture of an old man and a child where you could feel the squirming of the small child as well as another of a sleeping woman done in a few brushed lines. It was also brilliant to see two pages of one of the sketch book he took out on walks.

Of the prints I loved a series of postage stamp sized self-portraits showing different facial expressions. I also marveled again at the different states of “Christ Presented to the People” where the final version has had the foreground of people taken out. However often I read how it was done I still don’t understand how you could do that.

Closes on 4 August 2019

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