Rembrandt on Paper: The Drawings and Etchings

In Los Angeles alone, there are no fewer than 14 paintings, a dozen drawings, and nearly 300 etchings by Rembrandt van Rijn. In this series of online lectures for the Hammer Museum, art historian, curator, and museum director John Walsh examines these works and Rembrandt’s career in detail, including recent research, surprise reappearances, and shifting opinions about the artist and his achievements.

Rembrandt’s drawings are among the most expressive by any artist, ever. He put his skills as a draftsman to work on hundreds of etchings, most often of original compositions rather than reproductions of his paintings. He was a brilliant technical innovator, as this lecture demonstrates. Etchings carried his designs all over Europe; the prints, rather than his paintings, were responsible for his widespread fame during his lifetime.