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The Hundred Guilder Print

1648
Not on view
The Hundred Guilder Print can be counted among Rembrandt’s most beautiful and complex compositions. The artist wove together in a horizontal composition individual episodes of the Gospel of St. Matthew to illustrate its full chapter 19. It is an exquisite puzzle of darks against lights and lights against darks that draw the eye across the image. He positioned Christ as a luminous beacon between the lightly etched left side and the sumptuous darkness he created on the right. After the scene was first etched onto the plate, he continued to reposition many of the details; traces of that repositioning can still be seen in Christ's eyes, hands, and feet. The title of the print refers to an early story that Rembrandt paid one hundred guilders to buy back an impression of the print. While the tale is dubious, it does suggest that the print had become rare by the eighteenth century.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Hundred Guilder Print
  • Artist: Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) (Dutch, Leiden 1606–1669 Amsterdam)
  • Date: 1648
  • Medium: Etching, engraving, and drypoint; second state of two
  • Dimensions: plate: 11 x 15 1/2 in. (28 x 39.3 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
  • Object Number: 29.107.35
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Abraham Casting out Hagar and Ishmael, Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) Dutch, Etching with touches of drypoint
Abraham Casting out Hagar and Ishmael
Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn)
1637
St. Jerome Reading, Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) Dutch, Etching
St. Jerome Reading
Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn)
1634
Return of the Prodigal Son, Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) Dutch, Etching, pen and ink
Return of the Prodigal Son
Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn)
1620–69
St. Jerome in Prayer, Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) Dutch, Etching
St. Jerome in Prayer
Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn)
1635
Portrait of Lieven Willemsz van Coppenol, Writing Master (the larger plate), Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) Dutch, Etching and drypoint; fourth state
Portrait of Lieven Willemsz van Coppenol, Writing Master (the larger plate)
Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn)
1658

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