In 1651 Rembrandt made on location this sketch in pen and brown ink with wash,
of a view of Haarlem with the Bavo church.
The horizon divides the picture neatly in halves,
the broad expanse of the sky remains blank.
The Bavo Church at the horizon is in the center of the picture,
and at the edge of the drawing on the left is the Saxenburg estate,
now demolished.
Rembrandt sees the vista from a high vantage point,
obvious a dune,
indeed present in the neighbourhood of the estate,
as we shall later see.
He also made an etching of a similar vista,
using a long, narrow, horizontal format.
Rembrandt probably drew directly onto the plate
without the benefit of a preparatory drawing.
The Bavo is barely visible at the horizon on the left.
But now, contrary to the drawing shown on top,
the Saxenburg estate with its firm tower
is at the right side of the church.
But of course etchings always reverse the artist's design.
A counterproof impression would enable him to view the image
as it was originally drawn on the plate.
Such a counterproof is made by laying a blank sheet of paper
directly on the initial print whilst the ink was still wet,
and then run them through the press,
creating a representation of the original image.
There are six counterproofs left of this etching,
This is for instance an etching by Rembrandt
of a "Landscape with Three Gabled Cottages beside a Road".
It is the first state of the etch;
the dry point burr makes early impressions relatively dark.
This particular example was probably also drawn on the site
using a prepared etching plate.
In a later state of the etching, shown on the right,
Rembrandt burnished the foliage of the tree,
creating a more subtle depiction.
On the left is a counterproof with Rembrandt's signature and date in reverse.
That a counterproof was printed suggests
that Rembrandt may have contemplated further additions,
which in the event were never carried out.
For a computer the making of a counterproof
is a piece of cake....
The Bavo church on the drawing is significantly bigger than on the etching.
This would mean that Rembrandt depicted the vistas from different viewpoints.
This is supported by the following.
In the right foreground are a farm and a pond surrounded by a firm;
in the center of the pond is a water bird's house.
Compared to the drawing location,
the etching location is more backwards to the west,
which means that the distance to the Bavo church increases
and the positions of the farmhouse and bird's house swap.
On top we see now one of the six counterproofs
Rembrandt made of the landscape.
It houses in the British Museum.
As could be expected,
his counterproof and the computer animated mirror image are identical.
Rembrandt's famous etching has an intriguing title: "The Goldweigher's field".
In short the well-known story is as follows.
In the 18th century it was thought that the print depicted the estate
of the Amsterdam tax collector (the gold weigher) just outside Amsterdam,
perhaps because of the print's mirror image of reality.
The print however shows Saxenburg, the estate of Rembrandt's creditor,
who sold his impressive house in Amsterdam in 1638 to the artist
(now the "Rembrandt House" in Amsterdam).
This reckless transaction ultimately led to Rembrandt's bankruptcy in 1656,
requested by a major of Amsterdam.
The Saxenburg estate is on the left, and then to the right
the diminutive spire of the church of the village Bloemendaal
built in 1636, just pricks the horizon.
Further to the right the Bavo church.
Saxenburg was an old knight homestead,
with a bold tower and a gatekeeper's house in front.
On the right side is the church of Bloemendaal.
A follower of Rembrandt, allegedly Philip de Koninck,
made an oil painting of Goldweigher's field,
this detail of the picture shows that the fields in front of Saxenburg
are in fact bleaching grounds.
Notice the church of Bloemendaal at the right of the house.
On the painting in full the water bird's house and the Bavo
are on the far right of the painting.
In the 18th century Andries Schoenmaker made this drawing of the house.
Saxenburg was demolished in 1798.
The classic structure in the center of this etching by Rembrandt,
titled: "Canal with a Large Boat and Bridge"
or in Dutch "Het schuytje op de voorgrondt",
shows some resemblance with Saxenburg with its firm tower.
To make this etching topographical correct we show here the mirror image.
The spire of the church is now at the right of the house.
It shows some resemblance with the actual church in Bloemendaal.
At the right edge of the etching the foot of a dune is depicted,
suggesting that indeed a high viewing point was in the neighbourhood of Saxenburg.
This landscape panorama seen from the dunes
shows the bleaching fields at Bloemendaal
with its church in the center of the composition.
It is attributed to Jacob van Ruisdael.
Saxenburg is not represented on the painting,
but Van Ruisdael's viewing point was more to the north.
But where did Rembrandt precisely sit etching the vista?
In order to estimate this location
we drew sight lines from the bottom center of the etching
to the three buildings of which the locations still are known.
These lines are transposed to a Google Earth satellite photo of the region,
note the photo is rotated; the north is not on top.
The viewing point is placed on the dune top the "Kopje",
the spot of which it is often suggested that it was Rembrandt's vantage point.
An obvious suggestion, for the dune is a notable high dune in the region.
However, not in accord with the mirror image of the etching,
from that spot Saxenburg and the Bavo lie more or less on the same sight line.
The British Museum suggests,
apparently also confused by the mirror image of the etching,
that Rembrandt's vantage point must have been about 400 meters further north.
But from there, the sight lines to Saxenburg and the Bavo coincide even more.
Rotation was used to roughly estimate Rembrandt's surmised sketching location.
And indeed, it appeared to be also on a high dune,
in the neigborhood what is at present called the "Lindenheuvel" (Limes hill),
close to the town hall of Bloemendaal.
In that case Rembrandt saw the Bavo church more or less from the north-west.
On this map from the end of the 17th century our three locations are mentioned
and located in agreement with the satellite photo.
Right above is the city of Haarlem with the Bavo in the center.
Saxenburg lies more or less in a dune basin.
The church of Bloemendaal is more to the east.
Indeed Rembrandt's etching seem topographical correct,
and he would have sit on a dune top.
In Rembrandt's time, as is the case today,
the dunes near Saxenburg estate were the highest of the region.
But now these dunes are densely wooded.
It is possible that this etching by Rembrandt,
showing a view of the dunes with an angler on the right,
and two swans in the pond on the left foreground, is made at the Saxenburg estate.
On the etching of the 'Goldweigher's Field"
also a couple of swans with an angler are depicted.
This black chalk drawing dating from 1810, by Pieter Barbiers III,
shows "The Dunes at Overveen".
Overveen is a small village that lies at the foot of the dune in the north,
which is now called Lindenheuvel.
It is not impossible that Rembrandt sat on the dunes here depicted, etching Saxenburg.
Not until 1887 this house was built on Rembrandt's surmised viewing point.
In 1976 it burnt down.
and was much later replaced by a new country house.
Indeed the dunes there are full of trees.
From the roof of an apartment complex, situated close to Lindenheuvel,
we filmed the Bavo.
Although Rembrandt's proportions of the church deviate from reality,
the position of his Bavo church on the reversed etching
is indeed similar to the position of the church on the still.
We thank the staff-members of nursing home Oldenhove in Overveen
for their great cooperation to make this shot possible.
And what about the goldweigher, the Amsterdam tax collector,
after whom Rembrandt's etching was erroneously called?
His name was Jan Wtenbogaert.
Ironically, he himself was portrayed long before Rembrandt made his sketches on Lindenheuvel.
This portrait, or better, genre scene, is called "The Goldweigher",
dating from 1638, one of Rembrandt's first chiaroscuro etchings.
As is the case for many Golden Age paintings, in particular the genre scenes,
symbolic meaning is often ascribed to this picture, it would represent "Avarice".
Still, Rembrandt put considerable effort in the alikeness of Wtenbogaert.
In the first state of the etching, Wtenbogaert's face is left blank.
Rembrandt used black chalk to draw in the face on a counterproof of the first state,
possibly with the sitter in front of him, after which he finished the print.
It is hard to believe that Rembrandt tried to represent "Avarice" with this etching.
When working so hard on the alikeness of a sitter,
whom he probably knew already from his younger years in Leiden,
it would be rather insulting.