Student at a Table by Candlelight

Unknown (0 - 0); Rembrandt van Rijn

c. 1642

Etching

Dallas Museum of Art

Knowing the history of paper can sometimes aid in determining whether a Rembrandt print is a lifetime or posthumous impression. Watermarks—wire designs sewn into paper molds that papermakers would include to leave their maker’s mark—are an important part of that history. Student at a Table by Candlelight has the Pro Patria watermark, which did not appear on paper until around the eighteenth century after Rembrandt had passed, making this impression a posthumous print. The Pro Patria watermark depicts a woman warrior holding a staff with a hat on the end next to a lion holding a sword and cluster of arrows, both surrounded by a fence