A travelling medicine vendor. Etching by Rembrandt van Rijn, 1635.

Rembrandt

1635

1 print : etching

Wellcome Collection

An etching by Rembrandt depicts a medicine vendor holding a packet of drugs from a basket, with his right hand on his hip. Adam Bartsch (1757-1821), the great expert on prints at the Imperial Court in Vienna, described this etching by Rembrandt as follows: "A tiny piece, engraved with energy and lightness of touch. Its subject is a medicine vendor ("charlatan"), directed towards the right of the print. He holds a basket in front of him, from which he has pulled a packet of drugs that he shows with his left hand. His right hand is placed on his hip, and below hang a shoulder-bag and a sabre. His knees are slightly bent." Since Bartsch was closer to Rembrandt in time than we are, it seems worthwhile to accept his identification of the subject as a man hol