Beggar in a High Cap, Standing and Leaning on a Stick

As a young man, Rembrandt made many etchings of beggars and other denizens of the streets. They would come to inform the figures populating his complex biblical images. Notice two major precepts of Rembrandt's printmaking: He treated the copper etching plate as if it were a sketchpad, and he drew informally and intuitively, rejecting the formulaic approach taken by many professional printmakers.