Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–69) was restlessly experimental in his printmaking; he manipulated his copperplates in unprecedented ways in order to achieve an image that was often in flux. Rembrandt was the first artist to treat the print medium as a means of crafting visibly changing images, even as his prints were increasingly received in the market as finished works in their own right.
Rembrandt’s Changing Impressions
, published to accompany an exhibition at the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia University, considers this aspect of Rembrandt’s art, and its position in the 17th-century print market, through the comprehensive exploration of 18 of his most dramatically altered works—the first time in more than four decades that such an investigation has been undertaken. Each print’s multiple impressions are displayed side by side, giving readers the opportunity to examine their range, power and nuance.