The shell (Conus marmoreus), Rembrandt van Rijn, 1650
etching, dry needle and burin, h 97mm × b 131mm
Rembrandt was by no means insensitive to the 17th-century fascination with exotic naturalia: he possessed a 'large quantity of horns (shells) and sea crops'. This copy, which in Rembrandt's time was known as Herts Horen, undoubtedly belonged to that collection. He meticulously applied the characteristic, dark brown colour pattern in print, although the etching reflects the shell in mirror image.
