Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn died on 4 October 1669 in Amsterdam. 350 years later the first of two homages to the famous painter will be mounted by the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne. In addition to the special exhibition Inside Rembrandt (1.11.2019 – 1.3.2020), the museum will present a choice selection of etchings from the total of 160 Rembrandt prints in its print collection. The works distinguish themselves not only by their great aesthetic quality, but also by their excellent condition and the exceptional facility that Rembrandt demonstrated as an etcher. The great ingenuity with which he mastered the brush was matched by his dexterity with the etching needle and graver. The copper plate was just as important to him as the canvas. Often he would keep revising the image over and over until he reached precisely his desired goal.

Moreover, a clever choice of materials also gave his works a special touch, because instead of the customary rag paper Rembrandt decided on Japanese paper. Among the outstanding works selected from the Print Room collection at the Wallraf are Abraham Entertaining the Angels, and the Three Crosses. Rembrandt’s World of Graphics is an illuminating inquiry into the aesthetic and material criteria that must be met if after some 400 years a Rembrandt etching will still be acclaimed as a masterpiece by collectors, connoisseurs and lovers of the graphic arts.