Beggar with a wooden leg.

During his lifetime, Rembrandt's extraordinary skills as a printmaker were the main source of his international fame. Unlike his oil paintings, prints travelled light and were relatively cheap. For this reason, they soon became very popular with collectors not only within, but also beyond the borders of the Netherlands. It also explains why, three centuries later, they were affordable for Sir John Ilott, who presented 37 Rembrandt prints to the National Art Gallery.

 

Beggars were a common sight on Dutch streets, so much so that Amsterdam passed an anti-beggary law in 1613. The measure targeted vagabonds, idlers, the lame and those pretending to be lame, like the subject of Beggar with a Wooden Leg, whose foot is visible behind his bound knee. Such rogues would be shipped to the workhouse to be reformed. While other artists depicted beggars as objects of derision or censure, Rembrandt chose to humanise them, attracted by the heroism of their decay and ruin.

 

In the abstract of their article 'Rembrandt's "Beggar with a wooden leg" and other comparable prints', in the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery (Br), 91(2) (2009), 278-82, J. J. ten Kate et al state:

 

Rembrandt's etching of a beggar with a wooden leg is notable because the two lower limbs of the presumed beggar are present and not deformed. Using the facilities of four specialised Dutch art institutes, we carried out a systematic investigation to find other etchings and engravings of subjects with artificial legs supporting non-amputated limbs, from the period 1500 to 1700. We discovered 28 prints produced by at least 18 artists. Several offered clues to a disorder of a knee, the lower leg or the foot. All individuals were adult males, suggesting the probability of traumatic lesions. We conclude that in this period artificial legs were not only used in the case of absence of part of a lower limb, but also for other reasons, notably disorders of the knee, lower leg or foot. They may also have been used to attract compassion.

 

Te Papa's impression is from the second of four states (the first two by Rembrandt). The corners are rounded and plate is trimmed, so that the walking stick rests on the plate mark. It pre-dates the addition of a plus sign in lower right corner and two dots in upper right corner, which occurred in the early 18th century.

 

References:  New Hollstein Dutch 49, 2nd of 4 states; Hollstein Dutch 179, 2nd of 2 states

 

See:

 

J. J. ten Kate, et al, 'Rembrandt's "Beggar with a wooden leg" and other comparable prints', in the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery (Br), 2009 Feb;91(2):278-82, http://bjj.boneandjoint.org.uk/content/jbjsbr/91-B/2/278.full.pdf

 

Minneapolis Institute of the Arts, https://collections.artsmia.org/art/55103/beggar-with-a-wooden-leg-rembrandt-harmensz-van-rijn

 

Dr Mark Stocker    Curator, Historical International Art    August 2017