Woman Discovers Draw Full of Rembrandt Etchings
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Charlotte Meyer, a Dutch woman, made a life-changing discovery when she decided to sort through a drawer of heirlooms that had long gone untouched.
During the dark, dreary days of lockdown in 2020, many of us had time to do things that we wouldn't ordinarily have the time or the inclination to do. For Charlotte Meyer, cleaning and sorting through clutter emerged as an easy way to pass the time. And, as luck would have it, she found a folder in a draw that contained 35 etchings created by the Dutch master Rembrandt van Rijn, whose 17th-century paintings and prints are renowned as some of the greatest visual art to come out of the Western world. The etchings had been collected by Meyer’s grandfather between 1900 and 1920.
“It’s such a beautiful story, one you can only dream about,” she told local media. “Nobody was interested in etchings back then. They were nothing special. For just a few guilders, my grandfather bought 35 different ones.”
Meyer declined to share the monetary value of her collection, but several recent sales underscore the continued demand for Rembrandt works. For example, a rare Rembrandt drawing, Young Lion Resting, was sold at auction earlier this year for $18 million - with the proceeds being used to support a wild cat conservation charity.
The good news, reports Smithsonian Magazine, is that Meyer's serendipitous discovery will shortly be available for everyone to see and enjoy. From 21 March to 14 June 2026, Meyer's etchings (plus others) will go on view at the Stedelijk Museum Zutphen as part of a new exhibition titled Rembrandt, From Dark to Light.
Genesis of Rembrandt's The Night Watch Discovered: After two-and-a-half years of high-tech investigations, researchers at Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum have discovered the original sketch Rembrandt used for his 1642 masterpiece, in what is being hailed as a “breakthrough” that reveals the “genesis” of the famed portrait of Amsterdam’s civic guardsman.