Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Europe 1600-1815, Room 6, The Lisa and Bernard Selz Gallery

Beggars receiving alms at the door of a house

Print
1648 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Rembrandt's informal depictions of peasants and beggars in episodes from humble, every-day life have been perennially popular with artists and collectors. This cottage scene seems to have been a special favourite, for at least seven different copies exist by various hands.

This etching is unusual in the figure of the boy with his back to the viewer which creates a huddle of figures emphasized by the densely shaded shadows on the left side and highlighted by the blank paper to the right. The man seems to be playing a hurdy-gurdy. The subject of the print relates to that of the Eulenspiegel of 1520, by Lucas van Leyden, which Rembrandt bought for a huge sum of 176 guilders at an auction in 1642. It too features a family of beggars and the man is playing the bag-pipes.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • Beggars receiving alms at the door of a house (published title)
  • Three Beggars at the Door of a House (alternative title)
Materials and techniques
Etching, burin and drypoint
Brief description
Etching, burin and drypoint by Rembrandt van Rijn, 'Beggars receiving alms at the door of a house', third state. Amsterdam, 1648.
Physical description
Etching, burin and drypoint depicting a man and woman with a child and baby begging at the door of a house and a bearded man in a cap at the door handing over a coin.
Dimensions
  • Height: 169mm (cut to)
  • Width: 131mm (cut to)
  • Height: 230mm (with support paper)
  • Width: 192mm (with support paper)
Measured by Conservation. Confirmed in Dept.
Style
Marks and inscriptions
Rembrandt f. 1648. (Signed and dated)
Credit line
Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides.
Object history
C.A. Ionides Bequest.
Subjects depicted
Summary
Rembrandt's informal depictions of peasants and beggars in episodes from humble, every-day life have been perennially popular with artists and collectors. This cottage scene seems to have been a special favourite, for at least seven different copies exist by various hands.

This etching is unusual in the figure of the boy with his back to the viewer which creates a huddle of figures emphasized by the densely shaded shadows on the left side and highlighted by the blank paper to the right. The man seems to be playing a hurdy-gurdy. The subject of the print relates to that of the Eulenspiegel of 1520, by Lucas van Leyden, which Rembrandt bought for a huge sum of 176 guilders at an auction in 1642. It too features a family of beggars and the man is playing the bag-pipes.
Bibliographic references
  • Taken from V&A Internal Catalogue
  • Bartsch, Adam von. Catalogue raisonné de toutes les estampes qui forment l'oeuvre de Rembrandt (Vienna, 1797). B.176.
  • White, Christopher and Boon, Karel G. Rembrandt's Etchings: an Illustrated Critical Catalogue. (Amsterdam: Van Gendt & Co; London: A. Zwemmer Ltd., 1969).
  • Hind, Arthur M. A Catalogue of Rembrandt's Etchings. (London: Methuen and Co. Ltd., 1923).
  • Biörklund George. Rembrandt's Etchings, True and False: A Summary Catalogue in a Distinctive Chronological Order and Completely Illustrated, (Stockholm, London & Paris, 1955) (2nd ed. 1968).
  • The Catalogue of the Constantine Alexander Ionides Collection. London. Victoria and Albert Museum, 1904, 672.
  • Hollstein, F. W. H. (Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich), 1888-1957. Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts, ca. 1450-1700. Amsterdam : M. Hertzberger, 1949-, vol. 18-19.
  • Hinterding, Erik, et. al. Rembrandt the Printmaker. (London, British Museum Press, 2000), cat. 60, pp. 250-252.
  • Blanc, Charles, L'oeuvre complet de Rembrandt, décrit et commenté, (Paris, 1859-61).
Collection
Accession number
CAI.672

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Record createdMarch 31, 2008
Record URL
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