is to Rembrandt's whole
conception. The needle held vertically and slightly dulled, for
instance, produced the light shadings on the central hillock at lower
left. The sharp needle, held at an angle, threw up the burr which
printed as the rich blacks on both sides of the hay barn, along the bank
of the stream, and on the road at left center. The sheep and post at the
far right were completely drawn with drypoint, as was the shepherd of
the flock at left center (figure 16). It is interesting to note that the
flock originally had two shepherds, evidently a man and a woman,
standing at the center of the road and behind the flock.[34] These
figures were drawn in the ground and etched in the first stage of the
print. Rembrandt then must have decided that their proportion was wrong
for his composition. He reworked the area, using a scraper or burnisher
to flatten out his etched lines, and covered the remaining ghosts of the
figures with a mesh of drypoint cross-hatching. He then added the single
small figure of the shepherd boy entirely in drypoint.

[Illustration: FIGURE 16

Detail of Rembrandt's finished print, _Landscape with a hay barn and a
flock of sheep_, showing shepherd in drypoint, erased figures behind
flock, signature, and date. Enlarged 5 times. (Smithsonian photo
59389.)]

Houbraken, writing in 1718, talked of Rembrandt's technical secrets,
"which he would not let his pupils see."[35] In truth, there are no
secrets to this artist's _technique_ in the etching medium. But his
mastery of the _art_ goes far beyond communicable secrets.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Hind 241 (+A. M. Hind+, _A Catalogue of Rembrandt's
Etchings_, 2 vol., rev. ed., London, 1923), Bartsch 224 (+Adam Bartsch+,
_Catalogue raisonne de toutes les estampes ... de Rembrandt_ ...,
Vienna, 1797). The particular example studied here is an impression of
the second state (of two) in the collection of the United States
National Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

The author wishes to express his deepest gratitude to Jacob Kainen,
curator of graphic arts at the Smithsonian Institution, for his acute
knowledge, unfailing helpfulness, and encouragement in the preparation
of this paper.

[2] P. G. Hamerton, for one, calls special attention to the
technical importance of this print: "I recommend the student to
familiarize himself with the workmanship of this plate...." (_The
Etchings of Rembrandt_, London, 1894, p. 71.)

[3] The date is unquestionabl