One of the Three Kings Adoring the Virgin and Child, Rembrandt van Rijn, c. 1635 - c. 1640
pen and brown ink; framing lines in brown ink over traces of black chalk, h 177mm × w 159mm Catalogue entry
Rembrandt used a print after Rubens as his model for the figure of the kneeling king. The Christ Child, on the other hand, sprang entirely from his unsurpassed powers of observation. In contrast to the stylized, muscular Child, with which he would have been familiar in the visual tradition, here he drew an unmistakeable infant who is still unable to hold up his head.
