Reclining Female Nude

Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This is one of Rembrandt's most beautiful and understated works. The artist made this print late in his career, by which time he had begun to create remarkable painterly effects never before seen in printmaking, with combinations of velvety drypoint lines, films of ink left on the printing plate, and variously hued papers. This impression was printed on golden toned Japanese paper, which brings an underlying warmth to the dark image.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art