How Rembrandt Made His Etchings | Christie's

Alexander Massouras demonstrates how the techniques behind some of history’s greatest prints remain unchanged - almost 400 years on.
Renowned for his work in the medium, Rembrandt came to be recognised as one of the most accomplished printmakers of all time, producing works in intricate detail. ‘The lines follow the contours of what he depicts,’ comments Massouras, citing the individually-rendered hairs on a work such as Old Bearded Man Looking Down. ‘That detail is facilitated by etching.’
Read more at www.christies.com/features/Ale...
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[@spactick]

Rembrandt's etchings are to me among the most powerful art ever created. Leonardo's drawing are right there with it

[@JohnSmith-hg9ux]

I have always wanted to know how this was done. Thank you.

[@georgewu5]

Thanks for showing.

[@radharcanna]

Very interesting. Can you do a drawing first on paper and then transfer it to the plate or do you have to create the drawing directly on the wax surface?

[@paintkim9211]

My Top 3 Rembrandt's Best Drawings 1st Storm on the Sea of Galilee 🌊 2nd Beggar with a Wooden Leg 🩼 3rd The Blind Fiddler 🎻 Reason : They looks like Long John Silver, Blind Pew and Hispaniola from Treasure Island

[@KpxUrz5745]

The thing about Rembrandt was that he was a natural draftsman of unmatched skill, and these beautiful things just flowed quickly from his hand. Quite unlike anything demonstrated in this video! In my own work I strive for unhesitating and rapid creative draftsmanship. Etching is a glorious print medium, but truly almost nothing good has been done since Rembrandt. Perhaps Goya, Picasso, and Rouault, Whistler, not so many others. I have some etchings in museums, and am striving for more...

[@benjaminkelble4021]

You don't think Anders Zorn matches the skill - or even approaches the skill - of Rembrandt? (I value them both as experts of this craft, but prefer Zorn's compositions.)

[@KpxUrz5745]

@@benjaminkelble4021 Zorn was a skilled but quite minor artist. In fact I do not even like most of his work for a whole host of reasons. As for approaching Rembrandt, Zorn's name can never come up. Not even in the same ballpark, giving Zorn every benefit of the doubt. In my list of top 300 artists, the name Zorn does not even appear at all. Probably most telling is Zorn's rather maudlin and superficial treatment of human figure types, and mostly he was drawn to effete smiling society types --- hardly works of gravity as is everything by Rembrandt.

[@thefxbip315]

The Goya etchings are astonishing. Probably the only one who comes close to Rembrandt. For more modern etchings I would add Munch, Kirchner, Giacometti and Auerbach to the list. They have some great etchings.

[@KpxUrz5745]

@@thefxbip315 Yes I love the work of Munch and Giocometti, less so for Kirchner and much less so for Auerbach.

[@penmuni3833]

For his own plates, the narrator had too much plate tone, unwiped edges, and a lack of depth and variation in etched lines. But we see a handsome artist with a beautiful timber voice, narrating articulately the brilliance of Rembrandt. It's a Cristie's video. They seem to be purveyors of the idea that style can overcome substance.

[@GUnSNRoSeSrOcKzz]

What you said is accurate.

[@ForteExpresso]

You mean the presenter is drawing more attention than the drawing process?

[@touchmoss]

he likes to hear himself talk lol

[@JohnSmith-hg9ux]

This is the art world now: Pretention and vanity. Kind of reminds me of a New Yorker article which is usually one giant fart sniffing, self appreciative, and style over substance piece of trash. "I use big words and reference underground French films that you have never heard of, aren't I impressive?" But this wasn't even close to being as bad. Agh....I sound jaded don't I.

[@touchmoss]

@@JohnSmith-hg9ux youre not wrong lol

[@Cristobal-xp3mn]

Felizes Los 4

[@JimCincinnati]

Who are you? Why don’t you have your own television show? You are so handsome and smart! You could have your own art instructional TV show and be the (young and hot) Bob Ross of Etching. I’d bet my last dime on you Mr. Handsome Smartypants Etcher. Your show could be The Fetching Etcher. I could be your sidekick the Etch Wretch! Think about it!

[@penmuni3833]

You so gay for him. :)

[@thetruthexperiment]

Yeah, he has nerd sheik in spades. He probably enjoys his quiet work wherever he is.

[@pitoufinos]

Great video❤

[@Cristobal-xp3mn]

Eagle rock plaza

[@deckiedeckie]

She looks like G. Washington....

[@isaakmichel8601]

fourth

[@belle.3111]

fifth

[@FreeBeDrug]

first

[@ignacioconde2219]

2nd

[@juliarafferty4608]

3rd. From one great artist about another.

[@alexdavis5360]

Dude one of the artist is Rembrandt.

[@generalbarry]

Now that I've watched this, I still don't know how Rembrandt made his etchings. I heard a lot of garbled talk mumbled through an almost unintelligible very thick accent behind over-loud overpowering foreground music about Rembrandt's immense talent, but I still don't know how Rembrandt made his etchings.

[@hooblefloob]

Thank you

[@Shivamcosmo]

Third

[@leonardgoldstein3397]

Why do British people mumble when they get to the middle of a sentence?

[@myfragilelilac]

😂😂

[@generalbarry]

I think it's laziness based in pompousness. They think that it's the listener's responsibility to figure out their thoughts. Also, a lot of it is their very stilted accents. You have to know that they can't have any problem understanding the American/Canadian accent the way that we have trouble understanding theirs.

[@generalbarry]

It would also be nice if they would TURN OFF THE DAMN MUSIC so that we can hear the speaker. Why does everybody who puts together a YT video think that they're Cecil B. DeMille?

[@eumantelli]

Bad edges, also no felts is crazy and too much plate tone

[@stourleykracklite7663]

No felts? I see two blankets. Not sure why he’s not using a pusher. Yes, quite a bit of plate tone! I am not a fan of that.

[@penmuni3833]

Amen. But it's a video from Christie's. They are purveyors of the idea that style can overcome substance. :)

[@maturelydisapointingmember2699]

I'm sorry, I'm very new to this art style..could you explain to me what you mean by this? I understand if it's too much and you don't have to answer but I am very curious about the context behind your comment. Are felts needed and what is a plate tone?

[@tybushnell9819]

@@maturelydisapointingmember2699 Not OP, but I am a printmaking student who has done intaglio fairly recently and works with my professor as a studio worker. The dark edges on the prints he pulls are caused by the ink buildup on the edge of his copper plate, and his neglect to wipe them (by conscious decision or by mistake) it creates dark lines in the embossing that are really noticeable, generally considered poor practice but printmakers do weird stuff cuz they like it sometimes. The “plate tone” is the background noise from all the unintentional spots the plate picked up ink, can kinda be grey looking or splotchy areas, dots and scratches, crevices in the copper that were unintentional. This can be a result of poor polishing (or entire lack thereof) of the plate before the engraving process. How you wipe the plate (taking the bulk of the ink off) also has a big impact, many printmakers go in with French chalk and wipe carefully the white areas of their plates with the meat of their hands. All the same it can be used to make interesting work but is also something that can look unintentional and messy. Felts, I think, is referring to the blankets he is using (or should be using) when putting the plate through the press. It’s normally three layers, the bottom called the catcher (sometimes called other things if I recall) makes the closest contact with the paper and the plate, the cushion is generally the thicker one in my experience and resides in the middle, while the very top layer is the pusher which is pushed by the drum of the press. Different presses, different techniques, and so on means this stuff can vary like anything. And this is just the world of intaglio, there’s a lot of different techniques to create imagery, different plate materials, not to mention everything else that can vary just by the nature of printmaking. Hope this was interesting and I encourage you to delve into printmaking if you can!

[@generalbarry]

@@penmuni3833 Style overcoming substance. As Billy Crystal used to say: It's more important to look good than to feel good. In Texas, it's called all hat and no cattle.

[@2random628]

I feel like the guy in the video is a big dork