The Rat-Poison Peddler

Rembrandt van Rijn

1632

Etching

Minneapolis Institute of Art

A man with a tall pole holding a cage of rats stands outside a doorway, interacting with two figures within. A rustic building and trees are visible in the background. Rembrandt's itinerant tradesman is just as repellent as the vermin that he is paid to kill. He is a picture of fur, from his whiskered chin to his scruffy cloak. The dead rats dangling from his basket advertise the efficacy of his wares and services, but the creatures atop the basket and on his shoulders might make us think twice. At his assistant looks on, holding a box for rat-killing ferrets, the exterminator offers poison to the alarmed resident who fends off the offer. Gallery Not on View The William M. Ladd Collection Gift of Herschel V. Jones, 1916