Jan Lutma, Goldsmith (1656, Met-Objekt 5364)
Original title: Jan Lutma, Goldsmith
kurzbeschreibung
In 1656 Rembrandt portrayed the Amsterdam goldsmith Jan Lutma in an interior. The print was made as an etching, engraving and drypoint and survives here in the fourth of four states. Lutma sits lost in thought at a table with his tools, while daylight falls through a barred window.
Description
The old man in fur collar and cap looks quiet and withdrawn. He has taken his place against the back wall of the room, where a window with a grille and sill provides the light. Two small sculptures stand on the sill, and an inkwell and book lie on the table before him. Greys dominate the print, as is usual with etching and engraving, and the individual elements are clearly ordered.
Context
Jan Lutma ranked among Amsterdam's most esteemed gold- and silversmiths and was already over seventy in 1656. Rembrandt drew him during a period of his own financial hardship, when he nonetheless continued to produce prints. The portrait falls in the same year the artist had to declare bankruptcy, which places it in his late work.
Impact
Lutma's calm, absorbed posture gives the image a dignified, intimate mood. Light entering through the window draws the eye to the old man's face and hands and stresses the precision with which the goldsmith works.
Technique
Etching, engraving and drypoint work together here; the drypoint leaves fine, dry lines that allow soft transitions. In the fourth state clear reworking is visible, the contrasts stand out more strongly and the details of the room are more fully worked out.
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Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)