Cottage and Farm Buildings with a Man sketching

A humble, rather dilapidated farmhouse is a subject that recurs in many of Rembrandt's landscape etchings. The level of detail implies that he, like the artist shown drawing in the foreground at right, had oftentimes sketched such places en plein air. Whilst the little figure of the draughtsman is a reflection figure rather than a self-portrait- the artist depicted here has a beard - Rembrandt has adopted a very similar low viewpoint as him. Whether or not Rembrandt actually drew this plate from life and in situ - the result is full of charming, incidental detail and the print is one the most cheerful and light-hearted of all his landscapes.

In New Hollstein (2013) Hinterding and Rutgers date this print to circa 1641, but this appears to be a mistake and is not in keeping with the paper evidence as presented by Hinterding himself in the catalogue of Rembrandt's watermarks (2006), which suggest a first printing date of circa 1645.