Beggar in a High Cap Leaning on a Stick

Rembrandt's Beggar in a High Cap Leaning on a Stick takes the work of Jacques Callot as a point of departure. Callot treated similar subjects on similar scale. Rembrandt added reckless energy to the calligraphic line employed by Callot. He provides us with a less sanitized view of the man, while also endowing him with individual humanity. The image appears completely spontaneous and unedited, as though we were looking at a page from Rembrandt’s sketchbook. However, closer observation reveals that he rethought his drawing. Originally the shadow beside the man would have impinged more fully on his form, but the truncated strokes of the zigzag lines tell us that Rembrandt partially masked his work with varnish before biting the plate in acid. In doing so, he released the man from the shadow to increase his monumentality.