A Cottage beside a Canal with a View of Ouderkerk

Efforts have been made to identify the location of this view, and Diemen and Ouderkerk have been put forward as likely candidates. It may in fact be a capriccio, an amalgamation of the two. The print is essentially a study in how to represent a building close to the viewer, with a distant landscape beyond. This is a more successful attempt than previous ones, where a lack of control of the biting process meant that there was little middle tone between deeply etched foreground and a very faint horizon. Here Rembrandt achieved a careful, gradual recession, enhanced by the diagonal placement of the cottages that lead the eye to the distant view, rather than the frontal placement in the landscapes of 1641. The recession is accentuated by the meandering road leading directly away from the viewer. The skilful use of sulphur-tinting further serves to unite the whole, the near and the far, into a harmonious evocation of the countryside on a damp, overcast day. Some commentators have even speculated whether the scene is shown during a flurry of snow.