Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69), The Gust of Wind, 1650/51 This
drawing is not signed. Nor is it dated. Even so, no scholars of
Dutch art have ever questioned that it was made by Rembrandt
around the mid-17th century. How can we know that the drawing is
made by Rembrandt? Everything supports this theory: the mood,
the style, the manner of the line, even though the brown ink has
been applied to parchment, a highly unusual medium for the
artist. Among the approximately 1100 drawings attributed, more
or less accurately, to Rembrandt, only four others were made on
parchment. One of these (housed in Amsterdam) shows a view of
the river Amstel seen from Blauwbrug. Like this drawing it has
rounded top corners, but it is both longer and wider. The two
drawings share common features in terms of both technique and
style, so it seems natural to view them as companion pieces: the
open, light river landscape offset against the dense, dark group
of trees that close around the cottages by the stream; morning
and night. The mak