The Goldweigher's Field

In this panorama, Rembrandt shifted his attention to the representation of a deep spatial perspective. The absence of large structures in the foreground is immediately apparent. Instead, we are offered a sweeping vista, an all-encompassing look at the environs outside Haarlem, the town at the left. Accentuating this great distance is the horizontal composition, which stretches our eye across and into the landscape. Rembrandt gave equal weight to the land and the band of sky, locating the horizon line directly in the middle. Only a couple of buildings interrupt this horizontal continuity.

This print was once believed to represent the land of Jan Uytenbogaert, whom Rembrandt etched as a goldweigher. Thus, it has been commonly referred to as "The Goldweigher’s Field". More recent scholarship identifies the land as belonging to Chistoffel Thijsz., to whom Rembrandt owed many debts. He may have created this print as a token of appeasement.