Man Helping a Rider to Mount a Horse, Rembrandt van Rijn, c. 1640 - c. 1641

Man Helping a Rider to Mount a Horse, Rembrandt van Rijn, c. 1640 - c. 1641

pen and brown ink; framing line in brown ink, h 142mm × w 149mm Catalogue entry

Here, Rembrandt was chiefly interested in the rider’s pose. The horse and the man helping the rider are rendered only fragmentarily. Rembrandt corrected himself time and again, scratching over earlier lines with powerful strokes. This probing way of working suggests that he did not have a preconceived image in mind and was giving free rein to his imagination while drawing.

Catalogue entry