Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) Landscape with a Cow Drinking etching. (ca. 1650) It is believed that, in this peaceful pastoral image, Rembrandt combined the landscape in the foreground—showing the countryside surrounding Amsterdam—with a series of mountains in the distance taken from a location hundreds of miles away. To achieve the atmospheric quality found in this etching. Rembrandt employed very delicate linework created with a fine-etching needle. Around the time of the creation of this etching plate (ca. 1650), Rembrandt’s financial status began to deteriorate and grow desperate, and he was unable to make his mortgage and tax payments any longer. Scholars often suggest that this etching and other landscapes of the period may reflect his desire to be transported to peaceful and idyllic places far away from the troubles in his life. Even centuries after his lifetime, Rembrandt’s etchings are still considered some of the finest examples of the medium. His innovations to the art of etching would go on to influence Goya, Picasso, Chagall, and generations of artists to come. Dimensions: Sheet (Timmed ): 3 7/8 × 5 1/16 in. (9.8 × 12.9 cm) Medium: Etching and drypoint; reworked by Claude-Henri Watelet; third of five states