Learning Resources
High-resolution images of more than 5,000 prints in the Davison Art Collection are now available on the web in Davison Art Collection Search, where you can zoom in to see their fine details online. These images represent most of the DAC's European prints from the 16th through 19th centuries, as well as some of the DAC's holdings of American prints (with more to come). You also can download and use DAC Open Access Images of artworks which are themselves in the public domain. To learn more, please visit:
DAC Open Access Images policy
The Davison Art Collection has made comparative learning resources to aid in the study of selected pairs of works from the collection. Presented below as QuickTime movies, these enable viewers to see differences and similarities between related images.
Rembrandt's "100 Guilder Print"
This resource enables viewers to compare two versions of Rembrandt's etching of Christ Healing the Sick, better known as the "Hundred Guilder Print." Among the traditional explanations for the latter title is a story, reported by Gersaint in 1751, that the artist traded one impression to a Roman art dealer for Marcantonio Raimondi engravings valued at 100 guilders.
Rembrandt worked on this print's copper plate during the 1640s. A century later an Irish art dealer and printmaker, Captain William Baillie, acquired the plate and heavily reworked the image. Baillie then made and sold more prints from the modified plate; later he cut it into pieces and printed its sections separately.
The QuickTime movie below begins with Rembrandt's original print and ends with Baillie's impression from a century later, making readily evident certain changes he made to Rembrandt's more subtle image.
Rembrandt and Baillie impressions of the "100 Guilder Print" (8MB QuickTime file)
Suggestions for use
Click on your media player's "Play" button to watch the image change automatically from the earlier to the later print (with a speed and subtlety dependent upon which version of the learning object is being viewed). Click on the player's "beginning" and "end" buttons to toggle instantly between the two images. Drag the player's timeline marker (usually a triangle or circle on a line below the picture) back and forth while looking at the entire image or one area of it to see how Baillie radically changed specific aspects of Rembrandt's plate: how, despite preserving the overall composition, the later print is in many ways a different work altogether. The intermediate renditions of the image do not reflect actual steps in Baillie's reworking of the plate, but this digital transition effect complements abrupt comparison to make more perceptible some relationships between the two prints.
Original object information
Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (Dutch, 1606-1669), Christ Healing the Sick, ca. 1649. Alternate title: "The Hundred Guilder Print." Etching, drypoint, and engraving on Japanese paper. Second of two states. Dimensions: plate 279 x 392 mm. (11 x 15-3/8 in.); plate dimensions are irregular. Provenance: Mrs. E.H. Harriman. References: Bartsch 74; Hind 236; White and Boon second of two states. Accession no. 1952.D2.2. Gift of George W. Davison (B.A. Wesleyan 1892), 1952.
Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (Dutch, 1606-1669), Christ Healing the Sick, ca. 1649, plate altered and printed ca. 1775 by Capt. William Baillie (1723-1810). Alternate title: "The Hundred Guilder Print." Etching, drypoint, and engraving on blue-tone wove paper. Posthumous restrike. Dimensions: plate 278 x 395 mm. (11 x 15-1/2 in.). Accession no. 1952.D2.3. Gift of George W. Davison (B.A. Wesleyan 1892), 1952.
Rembrandt's Peter and John Healing the Cripple
This resource enables viewers to compare two impressions of Rembrandt's etching of Peter and John Healing the Cripple at the Gate of the Temple. Rembrandt worked on this print's copper plate in 1659. The DAC holds two impressions of the print. The earlier of the two was printed in the second state during Rembrandt's lifetime. The later one is a posthumous impression--that is, a print made from the original plate, but after the artist's death--in the fourth state, probably printed in the nineteenth century.
The "state" of an etching becomes different each time the artist (or anyone else) changes its metal plate by adding or removing marks that make up the image. Variations in the inking of a plate do not constitute a change of state. The earliest impressions from a plate are called the first state. Impressions made after the first time the plate is changed constitute the second state, and so on.
In this resource, especially clear changes are seen in areas on the right. Among them are the reworking of foreground shadows with cross-hatching, and the clearing of the sky by means of burnishing. Also evident is a general weakening of the image in the later print, due in part to the plate's reduced ability to hold ink after the wear of having had many earlier impressions made from it (the diagonal line near the right side of its lower edge is a printer's crease, caused by a small fold in the paper when the print was pulled).
The QuickTime movie below begins with Rembrandt's lifetime impression and ends with the posthumous impression, showing changes and continuities between the two.
Lifetime and posthumous impressions of Rembrandt's Peter and John Healing the Cripple (9MB QuickTime file)
Suggestions for use
Click on your media player's "Play" button to watch the image change automatically from the earlier to the later print (with a speed and subtlety dependent upon which version of the learning object is being viewed). Click on the player's "beginning" and "end" buttons to toggle instantly between the two images. Drag the player's timeline marker (usually a triangle or circle on a line below the picture) back and forth while looking at the entire image or one area of it to see how changes made to the plate, and many years of wear, had huge effects on the sense of the work. The intermediate renditions of the image do not reflect actual steps in these processes, but this digital transition effect complements abrupt comparison to make more perceptible some relationships between the two images.
Original object information
Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (Dutch, 1606-1669), Peter and John Healing the Cripple at the Gate of the Temple, 1659. Etching, drypoint, and engraving on laid paper. Second of four states. Dimensions: plate 179 x 217 mm. (7 x 8-1/2 in.). References: Bartsch 94; Hind 301; White and Boon (B. 94) second of four states. Accession no. 1947.D1.213. Gift of George W. Davison (B.A. Wesleyan 1892), 1947.
Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (Dutch, 1606-1669),Peter and John Healing the Cripple at the Gate of the Temple, 1659, probably a 19th-century impression. Etching, drypoint, and engraving on heavy laid paper. Fourth of four states, posthumous restrike. Dimensions: plate 180 x 213 mm. (7-1/8 x 8-3/8 in.). Accession no. 1976.19.1. Friends of the Davison Art Center funds, 1976.
Terms of use
These learning resources are provided for study and teaching via the DAC website. They may be downloaded and saved for private reference or direct (in-person) instructional use, but may not be reused in any other way without permission from museum staff.