Cottages beside a Canal: View of Ouderkerk aan de Amstel

Striking in this etching is that Rembrandt places the horizon very low, so that the sky takes up much more of the composition than the land. It is a wintery landscape, although it is not clear if there is snow on the ground. The thatched-roof cottage in the foreground has an extension, an ‘opkamer’ or upstairs room, used for storage or as bedroom.