This magnificently broad landscape represents a view from the dune Het Kopje near Haarlem. At left we see the huge church of Saint Bavo, and the church of Bloemendaal in the distance at right. In the middle ground, surrounded by trees and some scattered farm buildings, we can see the large main house of the Saxenburg Estate, with its large square tower and a tall spire with a weather vane. The estate was the property of Christoffel Thijsz, one of the two owners of Rembrandt’s house in Sint Anthoniesbreestraat, which he had bought on credit in 1639. Rembrandt’s inability to repay his debt in regular instalments to them would eventually lead to his bankruptcy in 1656. Perhaps this etching was done to appease his creditor, or it might just be the result of one of the frequent journeys he made to make his repayments.
Whatever the explanation, this rather sparse landscape is one of the finest panoramas in Dutch 17th century art. Fields, trees, grasses and buildings are reduced to their most basic forms and yet imbued with a wonderful sense of movement and understanding of the underlying structure of the land. (See Schneider, 1990, p. 260) It resembles Rembrandt's drawing style more than any other of his landscape etchings. His precision and economy of technique is breath-taking, as is his use of blank paper to suggest distance and atmosphere. The representation is so accurate as to have prompted the idea that he sketched it onto the plate in situ.
The lack of any buildings, trees or other ‘points of interest’ in the foreground makes the flat open Netherlandish landscape the main subject of the print, with the enormous sky above it and – in the words of Jacques Brel – ‘cathedrals as only mountains’ (J. Brel, Le Plat Pays, 1962). It is a joy to let the eye wander calmly across this vast plain and to observe some little signs of life, such as the tiny figure with a scythe, another carrying a huge load along a path and the group of people crouching on a field to gather crops further to the right – or the rather impressive duck house on the far left.
The traditional title, used by Gersaint, the author of the first catalogue of Rembrandt’s prints in 1751, is misleading. He was clearly under the mistaken belief that the estate was owned by the Amsterdam tax collector Jan Uytenbogaert, whose portrait Rembrandt etched in 1639 (New Hoolstein 172).