Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn | The Three Trees

PRIVATE COLLECTIONS

Rembrandt's 'The Three Trees'

3 March 2025

Carly Shearer

The Three Trees is Rembrandt’s largest and most elaborate landscape etching and is considered a masterpiece within his oeuvre.

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606–1669) is widely regarded as one of the greatest artists in history and a defining figure of the Dutch Golden Age. Exceptionally prolific, he worked across painting, drawing, and printmaking, bringing a remarkable naturalism to his art through his keen powers of observation. His ability to capture depth, emotion, and atmosphere evolved throughout his career, yet his commitment to realism remained constant.

Rembrandt gained significant fame during his lifetime, largely due to the widespread circulation of his prints, which played a crucial role in expanding his artistic reputation across seventeenth-century Europe. One of his most celebrated compositions, Christ Healing the Sick, became known as The Hundred Guilder Print, a testament to its extraordinary value, reportedly selling for this substantial sum multiple times while he was alive.

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REMBRANDT HARMENSZOON VAN RIJN (DUTCH 1606-1669)

THE THREE TREES (B., HOLL. 212; NEW HOLL. 214; H. 205), 1643

Etching with engraving and drypoint, on laid paper, watermark Foolscap with five-pointed Collar (Hinterding A-a-a), New Hollstein's only state, a brilliant, early impression of this highly important subject, printing very richly and darkly, with intense contrasts and bright highlights, the burr and sulphur tinting in the sky very pronounced, with small margins

£200,000 - £300,000 + fees

Over the course of his career, Rembrandt created more than three hundred prints, including around twenty-six landscape etchings. Unlike many artists of his time, he did not rely on professional engravers to translate his designs into print. Instead, he embraced the process of etching himself, drawn to its spontaneity and expressive potential. This technique allowed him to work directly onto the copper plate with fluidity and freedom, achieving rich tonal contrasts and velvety textures. His hands-on approach set him apart, ensuring that his prints, much like his paintings, remain among the most celebrated and sought-after works in Western art.

Rembrandt was preoccupied by landscape compositions for two distinct periods. An initial period in the 1630s is characterised by work in oils primarily depicting theatrical views of fantastical landscapes. He then returned to landscape subjects from 1641 until 1653 when he produced hundreds of drawings, most of which are sketches of locations around Amsterdam captured while exploring the city on foot. The Three Trees dates from this period, and although the exact location depicted has not been identified, this amalgamation of Dutch landscape motifs would have been immediately recognisable to his contemporary audience.

The print is a true demonstration of Rembrandt’s technical virtuosity. A symphony of light and shade, the composition is marked by his exquisite attention to detail. The sky, often left blank in his prints, sets the tone here with a combination of marks conveying sweeping clouds of varying densities and a heavy downpour of rain moving across the open landscape. Rembrandt includes a variety of figures, including the fishing couple, the artist, and the lovers, each a familiar trope derived from contemporary Dutch pastoral literature. Within the vast landscape the diminutive figurative components are deliberately difficult to discern, emphasising the dominance of nature. To create this impressive drama and atmosphere, Rembrandt combined techniques including various depths of etched lines, drypoint, engraving and speckled tone through sulphur tinting. They weave together to create a rich, luminous surface for a composition that is dramatic and poetic, revealing an artist at the height of his powers.

The Three Trees has been subject to extensive academic research and consideration. Apart from its technical achievements, scholars have explored the meaning behind the composition. It has been suggested that the titular trees could represent the three crosses present at Christ’s crucifixion, or the Holy Trinity. There have been debates over the weather conditions depicted and whether the diagonal lines on the left-hand side are representative of rain (the most commonly-held view) or breakthrough sunlight. It has also been put forth that the trees could represent strength in the face of adversity as they stand up to the approaching storm, inviting a nationalistic interpretation of Dutch strength over Spanish rule.

The mystery and multiplicity of meaning and interpretation only adds to the richness of the work. Princeton University’s Curator of Prints and Drawings, Laura Giles, posits that ‘beyond its multiplicity of meanings and major influence on subsequent landscape artists, including Thomas Gainsborough and J. M. W. Turner, Rembrandt’s The Three Trees offers a compelling universality in its extraordinary evocation of an ephemeral moment in nature.’ (Princeton University Art Museum, https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/story/rembrandts-three-trees, accessed 30 January 2025). It is no surprise then, that this small and striking work has continued to compel and intrigue us for over three hundred years.

This exquisite example of Rembrandt’s The Three Trees was acquired by Hugo Burge in 2021. Hugo had an eye for exceptional quality in art and craft and so was drawn to it immediately. It also appealed due to his great love of trees, which had grown with the acquisition of the Marchmont Estate and it being home to some beautiful and ancient specimens. Hugo had a vision to create an important collection of art on the theme of the tree, as a particular collecting strand within his wider interests. This major acquisition, alongside further purchases and commissions celebrating the subject was to become a central part of his important collection of fine art and craft.

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn

Dutch 1606 - 1669

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Carly Shearer

DEPARTMENT

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