About this artwork
At the time this portrait was made, Lieven van Coppenol was in poor health, having suffered from an attack of insanity that forced him to give up his position as the head of the French school in Amsterdam and focus solely on calligraphy. Pathologically vain, the calligrapher sent demonstrations of his penmanship to poets, often under printed likenesses of himself (as seen here), in the hopes of being commissioned to transcribe their odes. In this, Rembrandt van Rijn’s largest portrait etching, Van Coppenol holds a sheet of blank paper, likely meant as a formal element to bring light into the dark surroundings.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Prints and Drawings
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Artist
- Rembrandt van Rijn
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Title
- Lieven Willemsz. von Coppenol, Writing Master: The Larger Plate
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Origin
- Holland
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Date
- Made 1653–1663
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Medium
- Etching, drypoint and burin on ivory paper
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Dimensions
- 344 × 290 mm (plate); 345 × 294 mm (sheet)
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Credit Line
- Gift of Hermon Dunlap Smith
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Reference Number
- 1944.460
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IIIF Manifest
- https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/50996/manifest.json
Extended information about this artwork
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.
