Portrait of Christian Bernhard Rode, the Artist's Father

Portrait of Christian Bernhard Rode, the Artist's Father

Christian Bernhard Rode

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Rode was one of the important eighteenth-century German printmakers. Here he depicted his father, the goldsmith Christian Bernhard Rode about the time of his death in 1756. This is a very early, experimental etching by the artist. Typical of Rode's prints throughout his career is the stippled shading that models the sitter’s face. Once he had etched the portrait, the artist covered the background and the sitter’s clothing in the printing plate with a lavis, a layer of acid applied directly to the plate with a brush. As the acid bit into the copper printing plate, it created a layer that would print as a dark overall tone. He then polished away some of that layer in order to create highlights on the sitter’s coat.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Portrait of Christian Bernhard Rode, the Artist's FatherPortrait of Christian Bernhard Rode, the Artist's FatherPortrait of Christian Bernhard Rode, the Artist's FatherPortrait of Christian Bernhard Rode, the Artist's FatherPortrait of Christian Bernhard Rode, the Artist's Father

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.