For its latest exhibit, the Currier Museum of Art is handing out
magnifying glasses. “Printmaking in the Age of Rembrandt”
follows the art scene in 17th-century Holland, when art became a
commercial enterprise. The 75 prints and six paintings are set
up chronologically and include work by Rembrandt Harmensz van
Rijn, Jacob van Ruisdael, Pieter de Molijn, Hendrick Goltzius
and others. Most are just a bit bigger than a hand.
“Technically, these are extraordinary,” said exhibit curator
Kurt Sundstrom, describing Hendrick Goltzius’s “Passion” series,
which tells the story that leads to the assumption of Christ in
small black-and-white pictures. The series offers masterful
storytelling, Sundstrom said, but his awe is over the detail in
the tiny print. These artists of the 1600s did what we rely on
computers to do today. “It’s a marvel that people could do this.
Each face of these 13 figures [in the series depicting the Last
Supper] are all distinctive, and they’re all invented out of his
mind. Even their haircuts,