One of the largest Rembrandt exhibitions to ever be displayed in the United States has made its first global stop at the Worcester Art Museum. The touring exhibit, titled “Rembrandt: Etchings from the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen,” features 70 works from the renowned artist.
Scholars and critics have long celebrated the 17th-century Dutch artist as one of the most skilled painters of all time with a superior ability to depict light, shadow and a wide variety of expressions in his subjects. The etchings in this exhibit provide insight into Rembrandt’s understanding of shading — the medium limited him to just black and white.
The etchings also show Rembrandt as an artist with an intention to spread his work farther than just the homes of clients who commissioned his portraits, according to Peter van der Coelen, curator of prints and drawings at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in the Netherlands.
“He was not just interested in making and selling paintings for individual clients,” said van der Coelen. “He was also interested to communicate with a larger audience all over Europe, and later on over the world, and he is actually also quite clearly doing this in his prints.”
Ten additional pieces join the Rembrandt etchings, including works by other great artists of the time such as Albrecht Dürer.
The learning and engagement team at the Worcester Art Museum hopes the exhibit inspires visitors to create their own etchings. The team has placed over a dozen Etch A Sketches alongside the collection for visitors to use.
“You can go head to head with Rembrandt on the opposite wall and really sort of see how you measure up,” said Claire Whitner, the director of curatorial affairs at the Worcester Art Museum, “which we thought was nice, because Rembrandt was always kind of looking at how he measured up to other artists, you know, both his contemporaries and to his great predecessors, like Albrecht Dürer.”
The etchings are on tour now while the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen undergoes a two-year renovation. After this first stop in Worcester, the exhibit will travel to Quebec.
“Rembrandt: Etchings from the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen” is on view at the Worcester Art Museum through Feb. 19.
