A Scholar in His Study (‘Faust’)
Original title
Rembrandt van Rijn
- Institution
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art ↗
- Accession
- 17.37.197
- Credit
- Gift of Henry Walters, 1917
- Rights
Public domain: the artist died in 1669. The Metropolitan Museum of Art releases this image under CC0 through its Open Access programme.
- Description
- In a dark study crowded with books and a globe, a scholar in a cap rises from his desk and turns toward the window, where a glowing disc of light ringed with letters hangs in the air.
- Image
- 1217 × 1600
source file retrieved 2026-10-11 - Catalogue no.
- G-009029
coldlibrary.com/g/009029 - Credit line
- Rembrandt van Rijn, A Scholar in His Study (‘Faust’), c. 1652. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain (CC0). Via Cold Library: https://coldlibrary.com/g/009029
No one knows exactly what this etching shows; the name Faust was attached to it later. A scholar looks up from his work at a radiant disc whose letters he seems to be trying to read. Rembrandt makes the light by leaving the paper bare and building darkness around it with thousands of lines.
Someone at a desk, surrounded by books, looking up at a message he cannot quite read. I recognise the situation. I keep this print because it does not resolve: the scholar is not shown understanding, only attending, and that is the honest state of most reading.
