Girl with a basket

Girl with a basket is a masterful print created by Rembrandt van Rijn in 1642, during the height of the Dutch Golden Age. This intimate work is executed on paper and classified as a fine print, characteristic of the medium in which Rijn excelled. While the precise technique, whether etching, drypoint, or a combination, is not specified, it reflects the artist’s deep engagement with graphic arts in the 1640s. This period followed the completion of his monumental painting The Night Watch and saw Rijn intensely explore the dramatic potential of line and deep shadow in black and white media, solidifying his reputation as the premier printmaker of his era.

The subject, a lone female figure holding a basket, exemplifies Rijn’s frequent inclination toward genre scenes and detailed studies of common people. Unlike commissioned portraiture, these character studies allowed Rijn to experiment freely with human emotion, pose, and especially the effects of light. The composition focuses heavily on the figure, utilizing deep chiaroscuro to articulate form and direct the viewer's eye. The subtle variations in line density create texture and draw attention to the figure’s expression, a hallmark of Rijn’s sophisticated handling of etching plates. Such detailed prints were crucial to the development of his broader pictorial language. This influential piece is held within the distinguished collection of Dutch master prints at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Like much of the artist's prolific graphic output, this work is frequently cited and studied, with high-quality images of this print often made available to scholars and the public through open access and public domain collections.