This essay examines Rembrandt van Rijn(1606-1669)'s landscape etchings, focusing on their characteristic rendition of humans in a minuscule and shady form to embody the theme of rural life. Unlike conventional landscape paintings which foreground shepherds or farmers to convey peace and tranquility of idyllic atmosphere, Rembrandt's etchings of the same theme cover the humans and other objects with a dense hatching, rendering them nearly invisible. The mainstream view maintains that the painter intended to emphasize rural life itself by placing little distinction between humans and surrounding landscapes. This interpretation draws on the painter's personal history that he stayed for convalescence in the suburbs of Amsterdam in the late 1630s. Admitting the validity of the biographical approach as such, this study enacts a different angle to read the Rembrandt etchings in the social contexts. It pays attention to the fact that the Dutches of the mid-Seventeenth Century found in countrysides an emotional as well as physical resting place isolated from ever expanding cities. The trend among upper-classes was to purchase lands in rural areas where they built private resorts. Lower-middle classes, the largest segment of the population, couldn't afford such a luxury, but they sought the grace of nature in literature, meditations, and paintings. Therefore, there was a great demand for the landscape paintings portraying idyllic sceneries.
Rembrandt's landscape etchings were conceived of to meet the demands of the paintings market. Yet they were not just consumer-oriented commodities. A great religious meditator himself, Rembrandt induced the potential viewer to have three phases of artistic experience or spiritual awakening. First, the viewer distances herself from the landscape portrayed on an etching work, but she finds it hard to locate the main motifs. Next, a long hard gaze enables the viewer to see the motifs of lovers, shepherds, and saints, but shortly afterwards she wonders why their shapes are masked by thick hatching lines. Finally, the viewer comes to understand what the style signifies: the humans are part of nature, a mere creation of God. This study concludes that Rembrandt invited his contemporaries, who longed for rural life, to his landscape etchings where he encapsulated his message that the true meaning of natural life is the life of religious devotion.

Ⅰ. 머리말
 Ⅱ. 숨겨진 전원 모티프
  1. 연인
  2. 농가
  3. 성인
 Ⅲ. 로쿠스 아모에누스: 쾌적한 장소
 Ⅳ. 종교적 명상의 장소
 Ⅴ. 맺음말

• 김소희(서울대학교) | Kim Sohee