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Nudes

Apprentice artists started their training by copying drawings and etchings. They then moved on to drawing plaster models. It was only later that they began drawing nude models. The pupils in Rembrandt’s studio drew and etched from life. There are fourteen prints of this kind by Rembrandt. In the 1640s Rembrandt etched a number of male nudes. They were probably all drawn directly into the etching plates. The drawing manner is always loose and open, and the models are positioned in typical studio poses. One of these etchings includes a child learning to walk in a walking frame. Rembrandt was saying that drawing is like walking—the only way to achieve results is by constant practice. His series of female nudes was made around 1660. In contrast to his approach to the male nudes, Rembrandt now concentrated entirely on the play of light and shade. The sharp outlines that he used in his earlier figures have disappeared. Rembrandt often depicted his models with great realism. In so doing, he was flying in the face of the art orthodoxy of the time. Many of his contemporaries were not impressed. The subjects of some nude studies are derived from classical mythology. Nevertheless these prints are primarily intended as studies of the female nude.

Artist drawing from the model
C. 1639
Etching, drypoint and burin, state II (B 192)

'The walking frame'
Ca. 1646
Etching, state II (B 194)

Seated male nude
1646
Etching; state II (B 196)

Naked woman seated on a mound
1631
Etching, state I (B 198)

Diana bathing
Ca, 1631
Etching; only state (B 201)

Jupiter and Antiope
1659
Etching, drypoint and burin; state I; printed on Japanese paper (B 203)

Woman sitting half dressed beside a stove
1658
Etching, drypoint and burin; state III (B 197)

Woman with an arrow
1661
Etching, drypoint and burin; state II (B 202)