Cottages and a hay barn on the Diemerdijk with a flock of sheep 1650

Rembrandt van Rijn created this landscape etching using metal, acid, and ink. He captured cottages and a hay barn along the Diemerdijk, populated by a flock of sheep. To produce the image, Rembrandt coated a metal plate with wax, drew the composition with a needle, and then bathed the plate in acid, which bit into the exposed lines. The depth of the lines, a crucial part of the image’s tonality, would have depended on the length of time the plate spent in the acid bath. He then applied ink to the plate, wiped it clean, leaving ink only in the etched lines, and pressed it onto paper. This printmaking process allowed for the creation of multiple originals, making art more accessible and enabling wider distribution, a reflection of the burgeoning commercial culture of the Dutch Golden Age. The detailed depiction of everyday rural life, captured through the skilled manipulation of materials, offers a window into the social context of Rembrandt's time.