The Goldsmith

Research shows that no metalsmith in Rembrandt's day would have made a gold statue as large as the one depicted here, but that is not the point of this private little print. The image cradled so lovingly by the smith is Charity, personified by a mother protectively embracing her children. Rembrandt's audience would have responded immediately to this symbol; the Dutch provided more charitable relief in the seventeenth century than any other European country.