le is pulled at an angle of about 30 deg. to 60 deg., a very
perceptible furrow of copper burr is thrown up on one or both sides of
the line on the plate. This burr holds more ink than the clear channel
and prints with a highly distinctive inky richness. Basically, etching
removes metal from the plate entirely, whereas drypoint displaces it in
furrows of burr. The rich fuzzy line produced by the burr is what we most
typically associate with drypoint work. The first sort, the thin distant
line, is nevertheless just as truly drypoint as the latter and is
distinguishable by its forcefulness and clear direction.[26] The same
line may also be created, with slightly more work, by using a scraper to
remove the burr from a rich drypoint line.

[Illustration: FIGURE 11

Detail of _Landscape with a hay barn and a flock of sheep_, bottom
right, showing rich drypoint lines with burr. Enlarged 10 times.
(Smithsonian photo 59386.)]

Another way of making lines in a plate is with a burin--an instrument
with a sharp triangular point--which is pushed through the copper,
instead of being pulled, as is the drypoint needle. When used
conventionally, the burin produces a very characteristic hard,
controlled printed line, one which does not appear in this print. When
used lightly, however, its line is virtually indistinguishable from
that of the vertical drypoint needle. It is quite possible that
Rembrandt used the burin in some of his work on this and other prints,
but it seems a somewhat less likely tool than the drypoint. First, the
non-etched lines in this print seem to have a more freely moving quality
than could probably be produced with a burin, a rather stiff, if
extremely precise tool. Second, when Rembrandt was commissioned in 1665
to engrave a portrait expressly with a burin, he found himself unable to
do so.[27] His inability, however, may be attributed as easily to
Rembrandt's artistic independence as to his inexperience with the burin.
Rembrandt's general use of the burin has been widely accepted. The
question may not be that simple. These visible differences, then, enable
us to separate the kinds of line within this print.

The author has attempted, by tracing only the etched lines in the print,
to recreate the state of the plate after Rembrandt's etching and before
the application of drypoint (figure 12). It can be seen that Rembrandt's
etched lines form only a foundation or skeleton for the finished work.
It is in no sen