Arkivism
The windmill
Public domain

The windmill

Rembrandt van Rijn · 1641 · etching; paper

From the collection of Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.

About this work

Rembrandt’s father was a miller in Leiden, and this mill was long assumed to have belonged to the Van Rijn family. However, it was actually located on the De Passerdeer bulwark in Amsterdam. The chamois leather workers’ guild used it to soften leather with cod-liver oil. The stench this produced earned the mill its nickname, the ‘little stink mill’.

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam’s own description
Subjects
print
Credit lineDe windmolen. 1641. Rembrandt van Rijn. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Public domain.

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