Woman Bathing Her Feet at a Brook

Woman Bathing Her Feet at a Brook by Rembrandt van Rijn, dating from 1658, is a masterful example of the artist’s late career innovation in printmaking. This specific impression is rendered using etching and drypoint, distinguished by a heavy plate tone, characteristic of the first of the two known states. This sophisticated technique allowed Rembrandt to achieve rich, atmospheric shadows and deep blacks, giving the resulting print a remarkable painterly quality rarely seen in 17th-century graphics.

The subject depicts a lone figure engaged in the private act of bathing. The woman sits at the edge of a brook, lifting her chemise high above her knees to wash her feet. Unlike the idealized mythological figures common in Renaissance and Baroque art, Rembrandt presents the female nude with an unflinching naturalism. Her posture is relaxed, emphasizing introspection rather than dramatic narrative. This intimate portrayal of domestic and personal ritual places the work within a tradition of genre studies, while simultaneously serving as a private investigation of form and light manipulation.

Executed during the Dutch Golden Age, this print reveals Rembrandt’s profound skill in utilizing the copper plate to evoke complex textures. The delicate cross-hatching combined with the blurred lines of the drypoint creates a strong sense of depth, contrasting the dark foreground figure with the luminous background elements. This notable impression is currently held in the esteemed collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As this iconic print is now within the public domain, it remains a heavily studied example of Rembrandt's graphic output, cementing his legacy as a central figure in the history of prints.