Boy Walking with a Stick, Rembrandt van Rijn, c. 1635 - c. 1640
pen and brown ink, with brown wash and opaque white, on paper toned with light brown wash, h 140mm × w 107mm Catalogue entry
Why this boy is holding a stick is unclear. Rembrandt may have portrayed a victim of leprosy, who was required to carry a stick to warn his healthy fellow citizens. Rembrandt deliberately did not draw the stick entirely straight, giving it a more natural appearance. He used iron gall ink, notorious for eating holes through paper, so-called ink corrosion.
