Landscape with a Cottage and Haybarn

As a print maker, Rembrandt only turned to landscape in the middle of his career. Nearly all were composed in the studio, although their themes were taken from Amsterdam and its immediate vicinity. This etching is one of the most attractive and characteristic of the earlier landscape prints. The mansion of Kostverloven on the River Amstel, which was already a picturesque ruin in Rembrandt's day and was sketched by many artists, appears on the right, while the skyline on the left is made up of various Amsterdam buildings. The work filled an important gap in the Whitworth Gallery's collection which, although it contained twenty-eight Rembrandt prints, had no example of his landscapes.