The RembrandtOpen Impression Project

Explore the impression

Eight sheets, one plate

There is no photograph of NP-RMB-001. There are photographs of other impressions of the same plate, released by the institutions that hold them under licences that permit reuse. Put two of them side by side, link the zoom, and the life of a piece of copper becomes visible.

Comparator images are photographs of other impressions, made by the institutions that hold them. They show the print. They do not show this sheet.

134 mm103 mmNo image publishednot yet photographed

This sheet has not been photographed. Imaging is sequenced after a conservator has reviewed the current housing, and the project does not publish a stand-in image of an object it has not documented.

The rectangle is the plate mark at 134 × 103 mm, the plate dimensions recorded by the Rijksmuseum for its impression of this composition. This sheet has not been measured.

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Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-portrait in a Velvet Cap with Plume, 1638, etching and drypoint. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, RP-P-1961-989. Mr and Mrs De Bruijn-van der Leeuw Bequest, Muri, Switzerland. Public domain (CC PDM 1.0).

State
New Hollstein Dutch and Flemish (Rembrandt) 170-1(4) — state 1 of 4 (Bartsch 20-1(1); Hollstein Dutch 20-1(1))
Licence
Public Domain Mark 1.0
Record
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Served at
1590 × 2000 px, resized from 3988 × 5016

Shown at its own white point on a mount. The project does not tint, invert or brighten a photograph of a seventeenth-century sheet to suit a dark interface.

What this comparison can and cannot show

Worth knowing before drawing a conclusion from a screen.

It shows

  • Composition, and gross differences between states.
  • Broad differences in wear — which passages have gone thin and grey, which still carry weight.
  • Whether a sheet is trimmed, and roughly how much margin survives.
  • Where the signature sits in the plate, and what it looks like when redrawn.

It does not show

  • Inking. How a plate was wiped is decided at the press, and a photograph normalised for a collection database has already flattened some of that out.
  • Paper. Tone, surface, weight and how light sits in the sheet do not survive digitisation.
  • Watermarks. Invisible unless the institution separately photographed the sheet in transmitted light. Almost none have.
  • Drypoint burr reliably. Burr is a three-dimensional property of the ink film and it reads poorly on a screen.

Impressions we link to rather than copy

Not every institution licenses its photographs for reuse. Where the licence does not permit it, this project links to the record instead of republishing the image — including for the three best-documented impressions of this print.

The British Museum’s three impressions are in this list. Their records are the only ones that say what physically distinguishes the states of this plate — and their images are licensed CC BY-NC-SA, which is not a public-domain licence, so they are cited and linked rather than copied. The full census records the rights position on every row.

Imaging planned for NP-RMB-001

Three views, in this order, each waiting on the step before it.
  1. 01

    Recto

    Colour-managed recto photograph with scale and colour target, to be made under conservator supervision.

    Imaging is sequenced after conservator review of the current housing. The project does not publish a stand-in image of the sheet.

  2. 02

    Verso

    Full verso photograph under identical documentation discipline. Carries collector marks, inscriptions and mounting traces, if any are present.

    Verso imaging requires the sheet to be handled; it is scheduled with the conservator visit, not before.

  3. 03

    Transmitted light

    Transmitted-light capture to record chain lines, laid lines and any watermark fragment. This is the single image most likely to move the open questions forward.

    Only by a method a paper conservator approves in writing. See the conservation page for the methods under consideration and their risks.