Rembrandt van Rijn, The
Three Trees, an etching
The Netherlands
Dated AD
1643
This atmospheric print is widely regarded as
Rembrandt's greatest as well as his most elaborate
landscape
etching.
His other landscape prints often appear to have been sketched
directly from nature, and concentrate informally on a single
prominent feature, such as a cottage, a tree-stump or a bridge, set
against a featureless sky. Here the composition is more formal. The
three trees dominate the design, but they are buffeted by gusts of
wind and rise in a burst of sunlight against a sky of rapidly
moving clouds.
On close
inspection, the view is filled with an unusual amount of incident.
On the left, a standing fisherman watches the end of his line,
while his wife waits with a lunch basket. Above them, cows, horses
and people are scattered in the sunlit fields, beyond which the
towers of the distant city almost vanish in a squall of rain. On
the near right, two lovers can be glimpsed in the undergrowth. A
wagon on the brow of the hill approaches a seated artist, who
sketches the view that is out of our sight. Behind the trunks of
the three trees, some cottages shelter in the hollow of the hill,
while far above them a flock of birds soars high in the
sky.
The image is difficult
to interpret, but the idea that the trees symbolize the Three
Crosses, as is sometimes suggested, is impossible to prove. That
man is dominated by the overwhelming force of nature seems clear,
but whether this aspect of the print should be linked to
contemporary Calvinist theology or Spinoza's pantheism is
far from clear.
Unusually
for Rembrandt, no trial
impressions
survive to record his progress with the plate. His signature and
the date are barely visible.
E. Hinterding, G. Luijten and M. Royalton-Kisch, Rembrandt the printmaker (London, The British Museum Press in association with the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 2000)
C. White, Rembrandt as an etcher: a stud, 2nd edition (New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1999)