Peasant Family on the Tramp

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Photograph by John Bentham.
Peasant Family on the Tramp
Photograph by John Bentham.
Artist/Maker (Dutch, 1606 - 1669)
Datec. 1652
MediumEtching
DimensionsSheet (trimmed within edges of plate): 4 7/16 × 3 5/8 in. (11.3 × 9.2 cm)
Credit LineGift of Marguerite M. Arkwright
Object number1984.22
Not on view
DescriptionRembrandt was both a painter and a printmaker; his etchings are renowned. Unlike most artists, who entrusted others to create prints after their works, Rembrandt began making his own prints when he was only twenty years old. He subsequently produced many original prints, not based on paintings or drawings but invented specially for the medium in question. In addition to his biblical scenes, Rembrandt was known for his depictions of common and even poor people—a rare choice in Dutch art of the time. There was little sympathy for paupers in Holland, and the artist may have been influenced by Jacques Callot’s images of beggars, although, unlike the Frenchman, Rembrandt emphasized his subjects’ humanity and dignity. Etching enables a much more fluid line than the labor-intensive process of engraving, and Rembrandt used this quality to advantage in Peasant Family on the Tramp, where the unsteady contour lines that distinguish the figures—characteristic of the artist’s style—resemble marks made by a pencil and emphasize the humbleness of the subject. Beside and behind the primary figure appear a woman and a child, lightly bitten into the plate and adding to the sense that the print is akin to a sketch, with the same liveliness. (SOURCE: Alcauskas, INNOVATIVE APPROACHES, HONORED TRADITIONS, 2017)

Additional Details

Exhibition History 2017
Clinton, NY (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College). "Innovative Approaches, Honored Traditions: The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Five Years, Highlights from the Permanent Collection," September 9 - December 10, 2017 (cat. no. 27, illus.);

2007
Clinton, NY (Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College). September 2007 [on display for Professor John McEnroe's art history class].
Provenance 1984: Hamilton College (Fred L. Emerson Gallery), by gift of Marguerite M. Arkwright;
date unknown - 1984: Marguerite M. Arkwright, by inheritance from the estate of Charles E. Baker;
dates unknown: Charles E. Baker, by gift of William Roehrick;
dates unknown: William Roehrick.
Markings None noted.
Published References Katherine D. Alcauskas, INNOVATIVE APPROACHES, HONORED TRADITIONS: THE RUTH AND ELMER WELLIN MUSEUM OF ART AT FIVE YEARS, HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION (Clinton, NY: Wellin Museum of Art, 2017), p. 94.
Signature Not signed.
Inscribed "1 [encircled]" on verso at lower right in pencil.
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