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Standing Man with Outstretched Arm
Rembrandt van Rijn, c. 1636 - c. 1641
These drawings were made about twenty years apart. They were probably part of larger studies with numerous figures. Such sheets were often cut into pieces by dealers to increase their profits. The figure at the left is too tightly cropped. It is now unclear whether he is a beggar asking for alms, or perhaps a figure in a historical scene.
- Artwork typedrawing
- Object numberRP-T-1930-37
- Dimensionsheight 112 mm x width 54 mm
- Physical characteristicspen and brown ink, on paper toned with a light brown wash; framing line in brown ink (partially trimmed)
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Identification
Title(s)
Standing Man with Outstretched Arm
Object type
Object number
RP-T-1930-37
Part of catalogue
Catalogue reference
Schatborn 18
Creation
Creation
draughtsman: Rembrandt van Rijn, Amsterdam
Dating
c. 1636 - c. 1641
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Material and technique
Physical description
pen and brown ink, on paper toned with a light brown wash; framing line in brown ink (partially trimmed)
Dimensions
height 112 mm x width 54 mm
This work is about
Subject
Exhibitions
Acquisition and rights
Credit line
Gift of C. Hofstede de Groot, The Hague
Acquisition
gift 1906
Copyright
Provenance
…; collection Étienne Desperet (1804-65), Lyon (L. 721); his sale, Paris (Delbergue-Cormont), 7 (8) June 1865 sqq., no. 278, with one other drawing, 65 frs, to William Mayor (1826-92), London (L. 2799);{Copy RKD.} …; collection Freiherr Max von Heyl zu Herrnsheim (1844-1925), Darmstadt (L. 2879); his sale, Stuttgart (H.G. Gutekunst), 25 May 1903 sqq., no. 241, 130 DM, to the dealer F. Meyer, Dresden, for Dr Cornelis Hofstede de Groot (1863-1930), The Hague;{Hofstede de Groot notes, KB; copy RKD.} by whom donated to the museum, 1906, but kept in usufruct; transferred to the museum (L. 2228), 1930
Documentation
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Rembrandt van Rijn
Standing Man with Outstretched Arm
Amsterdam, c. 1636 - c. 1641
Inscriptions
inscribed on verso, in pencil: centre, Coll Desperet. / W Mayor; below that, by Hofstede de Groot, f. tzoje; lower left, 220; below that, Rembrandt; lower right (with the Hofstede de Groot cat. no.), 1283
Technical notes
Watermark: None
Condition
Light foxing throughout1Typical of most drawings formerly in the collection of Hofstede de Groot, which at some point during his ownership were stored in unfavourably damp conditions.
Provenance
…; collection Étienne Desperet (1804-65), Lyon (L. 721); his sale, Paris (Delbergue-Cormont), 7 (8) June 1865 sqq., no. 278, with one other drawing, 65 frs, to William Mayor (1826-92), London (L. 2799);2Copy RKD. …; collection Freiherr Max von Heyl zu Herrnsheim (1844-1925), Darmstadt (L. 2879); his sale, Stuttgart (H.G. Gutekunst), 25 May 1903 sqq., no. 241, 130 DM, to the dealer F. Meyer, Dresden, for Dr Cornelis Hofstede de Groot (1863-1930), The Hague;3Hofstede de Groot notes, KB; copy RKD. by whom donated to the museum, 1906, but kept in usufruct; transferred to the museum (L. 2228), 1930
Object number: RP-T-1930-37
Credit line: Gift of C. Hofstede de Groot, The Hague
The artist
Biography
Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (Leiden 1606 - Amsterdam 1669)
After attending Latin school in his native Leiden, Rembrandt, the son of a miller, enrolled at Leiden University in 1620, but soon abandoned his studies to become an artist. He first trained (1621-23) under the Leiden painter Jacob Isaacsz van Swanenburg (c. 1571-1638), followed by six months with the Amsterdam history painter Pieter Lastman (c. 1583-1633). Returning to Leiden around 1624, he shared a studio with Jan Lievens, where he aimed to establish himself as a history painter, winning the admiration of the poet and courtier Constantijn Huygens. In 1628 Gerard Dou (1613-75) became his first pupil. In the autumn of 1631 Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam, where his career rapidly took off. Three years later he joined the Guild of St Luke and married Saskia Uylenburgh (1612-42), niece of the art dealer Hendrik Uylenburgh (c. 1587-1661), in whose house he had been living and working. She died shortly after giving birth to their son Titus, by which time Rembrandt was already in financial straits owing to excessive spending on paintings, prints, antiquities and studio props for his history pieces. After Saskia’s death, Rembrandt lived first with Titus's wet nurse, Geertje Dircx (who eventually sued Rembrandt for breach of promise and was later imprisoned for her increasingly unstable behaviour), and then with his later housekeeper, Hendrickje Stoffels (by whom he had a daughter, Cornelia). Mounting debts made him unable to meet the payments of his house on the Jodenbreestraat and forced him to declare bankruptcy in 1656 and to sell his house and art collection. In the last decade of his life, he, Hendrickje and Titus resided in more modest accommodation on the Rozengracht, but Rembrandt continued to be dogged by continuing financial difficulties. His beloved Titus died in 1668. Rembrandt survived him by only a year and was buried in the Westerkerk.
Entry
The former title of this drawing mentions two outstretched arms, but it is much more likely that Rembrandt simply drew the same arm in two different positions, first the lower one and then the more horizontal one, sketched with somewhat thicker lines. Both versions of this arm clearly emerge from the same sleeve. Rembrandt often made changes in his drawings, as in our study (inv. no. RP-T-1964-127(R)) for the sick woman at the centre of the Hundred Guilder Print (e.g. inv. no. RP-P-1962-1).4B. 74; New Hollstein: Rembrandt, no. 239. Had the present drawing not been cut from a larger sheet of studies, we might have been able to see if the figure were meant to be a beggar soliciting alms with his arm outstretched or perhaps a figure for an historical scene. A similar pose was used, for instance, for the figure of Esau in a drawing of Esau Selling his Birthright to Jacob in the British Museum in London (inv. no. Gg,2.250),5Benesch, no. 606; M. Royalton-Kisch, Catalogue of Drawings by Rembrandt and his School in the British Museum, coll. cat. (online 2010), no. 34. where the figure reaches out to shake the hand of Jacob, seated at a table.
The paper has been toned with a light yellowish-brown tint in the same manner as a large group of drawings from the second half of the 1630s (see inv. nos. RP-T-1930-38, RP-T-1930-53, RP-T-1984-119, RP-T-1930-51 and RP-T-1930-59). The drawing style displays several typical characteristics: the funnel-shaped hatching that ends in a point on the figure’s right shin, the fine vertical hatching to indicate shadows, and the figure’s sketchily rendered left leg (with the foot scarcely indicated at all). The draughtsmanship shows similarities with the figures on the right side of Jacob and his Sons (inv. no. RP-T-1901-A-4518), which is datable to circa 1641.
Peter Schatborn, 2017
Literature
C. Hofstede de Groot, Die Handzeichnungen Rembrandts, Haarlem 1906, no. 1283 (early); M.D. Henkel, Catalogus van de Nederlandsche teekeningen in het Rijksmuseum te Amsterdam, I: Teekeningen van Rembrandt en zijn school, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1942, no. 14 (c. 1632); O. Benesch, The Drawings of Rembrandt (rev. edn. by E. Benesch), 6 vols., London 1973 (orig. edn. 1954-57), no. 205 (c. 1632-33); P. Schatborn, Catalogus van de Nederlandse tekeningen in het Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, IV: Tekeningen van Rembrandt, zijn onbekende leerlingen en navolgers/Drawings by Rembrandt, his Anonymous Pupils and Followers, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1985, no. 18, with earlier literature; M. Schapelhouman, Rembrandt and the Art of Drawing, Amsterdam 2006, pp. 84 and 86, fig. 83; M. Royalton-Kisch, Catalogue of Drawings by Rembrandt and his School in the British Museum, coll. cat. (online 2010), under no. 34, n. 4; M. Royalton-Kisch, The Drawings of Rembrandt: A Revision of Otto Benesch’s Catalogue Raisonné (online), no. 0205, with further literature
Citation
P. Schatborn, 2017, 'Rembrandt van Rijn, Standing Man with Outstretched Arm, Amsterdam, c. 1636 - c. 1641', in J. Turner (ed.), Drawings by Rembrandt and his School in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200117723
(accessed 6 December 2025 16:03:33).Footnotes
- 1Typical of most drawings formerly in the collection of Hofstede de Groot, which at some point during his ownership were stored in unfavourably damp conditions.
- 2Copy RKD.
- 3Hofstede de Groot notes, KB; copy RKD.
- 4B. 74; New Hollstein: Rembrandt, no. 239.
- 5Benesch, no. 606; M. Royalton-Kisch, Catalogue of Drawings by Rembrandt and his School in the British Museum, coll. cat. (online 2010), no. 34.