Etch masters

Seventeenth-century Dutch artist Rembrandt was a master of light and shadow. His paintings, so many of which show figures bathed in warm, ethereal light and set against a thick, velvety darkness, are breathtaking not only for their technical innovation but also for their deep emotional quality. The haunting darkness of his paintings may cause unease; the eruption of light inspires absolute awe.Less celebrated are Rembrandt’s etchings: Those feelings of awe inspired by his paintings may not come immediately to the untrained eye, to someone unfamiliar with the etching process. Yet an hour spent at NMA Underground, where a collection of works by 17th-century printmakers is on display, lends that same sense of quiet wonder.

As the exhibit’s flyer explains, etching and engraving were the most common forms of printmaking in the 17th century; many artists hired etchers or engravers to copy their paintings. In this way, images were circulated throughout Europe. Yet talented artists like Rembrandt—and the 16 of his contemporaries whose works are on display at NMA—produced brilliant etchings that need no referent by which to prove their worth. These are works that have a quality of raw immediacy, but also emotional and psychological depth.

Perhaps the two works that best articulate the power of NMA’s exhibit are etchings that portray goldsmith Jan Lutma, one rendered by the goldsmith’s son, Jan Lutma II, and the other by Rembrandt. The etchings were done in the same year, 1656, and are strikingly similar. Both depict a bearded man wearing a fur-trimmed coat. Although the accompanying text notes that Lutma II’s rendering is “more objective” and “less psychological,” the etching is exquisitely done. While not as rich in pathos as Rembrandt’s, it is a moving psychological study of a father by his son. In this work, Lutma’s eyelids droop in weariness, yet his mouth turns upward ever so slightly beneath his moustache, adding a hint of irony to his expression of gentleness and introspection.

In Rembrandt’s “Jan Lutma, Goldsmith,” Lutma sits in a chair by a window. Light from the window illuminates Lutma’s face, while shadows fall across his body. Rembrandt’s etching technique produces more pronounced lines and deeper shading, and the effect is psychologically darker. Lutma’s mouth is set in a firmer line in this rendering—none of the subtle irony of Lutma II’s etching—and his forehead seems to push down upon his face. He seems to be pressing back in his chair in a stance of challenge, even of mocking.

These works are only two among many that give a taste of 17th-century life and artistic innovation, but they together signify the beauty of NMA’s printmaker exhibit; they reveal not simply the way the famous Rembrandt saw the 17th-century Dutch world, but the way that world was etched into art history in many ways and by many hands.