Faust (The Scholar in His Study)

For Rembrandt, the printing from a plate was not the final act. Considered both an experimenter and a perfectionist, the artist printed impressions to check how the image on his copper etching plate was developing. With etching, it is possible to return to the plate to make changes to the composition before printing further impressions.

Rembrandt’s "Faust" is subject to various interpretations and may not be the legendary scholar who makes a deal with the devil. It is, however, a dynamic print filled with drama and mysticism in which the artist contrasted the closely hatched background to the sketchy foreground. At first, the two impressions may appear to be identical. Look closely to see small but important changes between the two printings. In particular, the curls of metal that hold ink and create rich drypoint lines at the left (along the shoulder and arm of the man’s cloak) have disappeared in the second state. In the later state, Rembrandt added fine shading to the stack of books at the right and vertical lines to the right pane of glass in the third row from the top. The blue collector’s stamp in the lower left margin indicates the print once belonged to Lotz-Brissonneau.