The Hundred Guilder Print, c.1647-1649.

The Hundred Guilder Print is an etching by Rembrandt. The etching's popular name derives from the large sum of money supposedly once paid for an example. It is also called Christ healing the sick,^[1] Christ with the Sick around Him, Receiving Little Children,^[2] or Christ preaching,^[3] since the print depicts multiple events from Matthew 19 in the New Testament, including Christ healing the sick, debating with scholars and calling on children to come to him.^[4] The rich young man mentioned in the chapter is leaving through the gateway on the right.^[4]

Aert de Gelder, a Rembrandt pupil, portrayed himself holding this print, c. 1700

Rembrandt worked on the Hundred Guilder Print in stages throughout the 1640s, and it was the "critical work in the middle of his career", from which his final etching style began to emerge.^[5] He probably completed sometime around 1648.^[3] Although the print only survives in two states, the first very rare, evidence of much reworking can be seen underneath the final print and many drawings survive for elements of it.^[5]

Wieseman describes the etching as a "technical tour de force, incorporating an enormous diversity of printmaking styles and techniques":

The group of figures at the left side of the print, for example, is deftly indicated with a minimum of lightly bitten lines; in contrast, the evocative richness of the blacks and the depth of tone in the right half of the print represents Rembrandt's experimental competition with the newly discovered mezzotint technique.^[3]

Description

Jesus occupies the central position; he is the centre around which everything revolves. In the background right above Jesus, there is a dark bell-shaped alcove that makes him stand out. The aureole around his head points to his divinity. His appearance radiates dignity, but also vulnerability and a certain fragility. He spreads out his arms in a welcoming gesture. His hands, however, also make the traditional gesture of Christ as judge that is often see in paintings of the Last Judgment. The hand pointing up sends people to heaven (usually his right hand), while the hand pointing down directs others to hell (usually his left hand). It is notable that the hands are reversed here. This means that the Hundred Guilder Print contains an allusion to the Last Judgment. The group of seven disciples (three barely visible) stands close to Jesus, at his own right hand.

Three of them have their gaze fixed upon Jesus. They all look pensive, while their reaction to Jesus’ words and deeds in this chapter can be described as critical.^[6] The disciple closest to Jesus can be identified as Peter based on the way he is commonly portrayed. With his right hand he tries to stop the woman who is approaching Jesus with a baby in her arms.^[7] She takes the decisive step as she brings her baby up to Jesus. This may entail an allusion to child baptism, a point of contention also in Rembrandt’s time. Behind her a toddler is pulled along his mothers side. She carries another baby in her arms as well. This mother is still hesitating while the child points to Jesus, just as Jesus holds the child up as an example to the viewer. Behind the boy a dog is lying on the ground. In the 17th century a dog usually symbolized faithfulness.^[8] This may allude to the scripture by Matthew 15:26-28. One has a cap over his ears he does not want to hear Jesus's words. Another one has his cap not only over his ears but also over his eyes. At the front of this little group and placed farthest away from Jesus a man is standing prominently with his back to the viewer. He wears an over-sized beret. With his hands clasped behind his back and looking away even his foot points away, he seems arrogantly to avoid Jesus’ gaze. There is a young man in fancy garments who is located next to a woman of the same stature with a baby in her arms.^[6] His richly worked clothing, his well-groomed hair, and his stylish boots indicate a life of comfort. Dejected, he sits down, lost deep in thought. A camel entering the gate at the extreme right of the print parallel to the young man seems to link him directly to verse 24.^[6]

Underscoring this, a man seems to be trying to grab the beast in order hitch a ride on it. the meaning of this chapter is made manifest in how Jesus stands there. Perhaps the most striking reversal of all: Jesus’ hands are the opposite of their usual portrayal in the Last Judgment. The acquitting hand is on the left, significantly enough the side of the poor in spirit. The condemning hand is on the right, the side we might characterize as that of the rich in spirit. Yet it is also with this hand that Jesus pushes away Peter who wants to prevent the woman with child to come to him. Moreover, Jesus’ acquitting hand is placed in the very center of the composition. Grace is made central in this print.

History

Aert de Gelder, a Rembrandt pupil, portrayed himself holding this print, c. 1700

Rembrandt's Hundred Guilder print, as it has become known, has been famous since his own day for the extraordinarily high price he reputedly demanded. Rembrandt worked on the Hundred Guilder print in stages throughout the 1640s, and it was a critical piece of work in the middle of his career from which his final etching style began to emerge.^[9] Many consider this print the apotheosis of Rembrandt's activity in etching. In one frame, Rembrandt illustrates no fewer than four moments from chapter nineteen of the Gospel of Saint Matthew. Although the exact date cannot be confirmed, the completion of the painting could be narrowed down to 1649.^[10] The print only survives in two states, the first being very rare reworking of the original piece, and second being the reprints and copying of the original artwork. Evidence of much reworking can be seen underneath the final print and many drawings survive for elements of it.^[9]

In this print, Rembrandt combines life study, close reading of gospel passages, and his mastery of the medium. Various preparatory studies indicate how carefully Rembrandt worked out individual figures and how he finalized the entire composition by the time it was first printed. Wieseman describes the etching as a technical tour de force, incorporating an enormous diversity of styles and techniques used in printmaking. The group of figures at the left side of the print for example, is deftly indicated with a minimum of lightly bitten lines; in contrast, the evocative richness of the blacks and the depth of tone in the right half of the print represents Rembrandt's experimental competition with the newly discovered mezzotint technique^[10]

In the decade following 1642, Rembrandt’s production changed in several ways. His output of paintings diminished drastically, and the few paintings he made varied in subject, size, and style. Moreover, he produced no painted portraits, a fact that can be interpreted in two ways: either he did not receive any portrait commissions during that period or he did not accept such commissions for the decade. At the same time, he embarked on a number of extremely ambitious etchings, such as the portrait (1647) of his friend Jan Six and especially the Hundred Guilder print.

Impact

Etching & Printmaking

Rembrandt made about 300 etchings and drypoint between about 1626 and 1665.^[13] The Hundred Guilder print was created drypoint and etching with Japan paper as the main material for the print.^[14] Rembrandt was fascinated with subjects from the Old and New Testaments and, as in Abraham and Isaac, he enjoyed revealing realistic human emotion and narrative detail inspired by these stories which lead to the origin of the Hundred Guilder Print. Landscapes were another favorite print subject of Rembrandt. The Three Trees in which he evoked the typically blustery and rainy Dutch weather, is the most intensely dramatic of these works. By the 1650s, Rembrandt began to treat the printing plate much like a canvas leaving some ink or ink tone on the surface of the plate in order to create “painted” impressions of prints in which each impression would look different depending on the way he had inked the plate.Rembrandt owned a large collection of prints by such earlier masters as Albrecht Dürer, Lucas van Leyden, and Antonio Tempesta, and he often drew inspiration from their work.^[14]

By the 1650s, Rembrandt began to treat the printing plate much like a canvas leaving some ink or tone on the surface of the plate in order to create “painted” impressions of prints in which each impression would look different depending on the way he had inked the plate.^[15] The Entombment (1654) was printed in the first state without plate tone so that only the etched lines are visible. In the second state, however, he produced subtle, moody impressions of the same image by leaving a good deal of ink on the surface of the printing plate and then wiping it away in certain areas to create highlights, as he did on the body of Christ and a few of the figures around him in the Metropolitan Museum’s impression. Rembrandt often dramatically reworked his late prints, creating almost entirely new visions of a subject with each state. Since he preserved so many stages of his working process, the present-day viewer can in a certain sense bear witness to it.^[16]

Known locations

While the number of original copies printed by Rembrandt and other subsequent owners is unknown, the Hundred Guilder Print is not rare by the standards of Rembrandt prints, though the quality of the impressions varies considerably. Many copies can be seen in print rooms, including:

• British Museum^[17]
• Frick Collection^[18]
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston^[19] including Biallie prints ^[20]
• Metropolitan Museum of Art^[21]
• Oberlin College, Allen Memorial Art Museum^[3]
• Rijksmuseum^[4]

See also

• List of drawings by Rembrandt
• List of etchings by Rembrandt

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Hundred Guilder Print.