The bathers

Rembrandt van Rijn made this lively etching around 1651, showing nude figures bathing and playing by a river. The informal, voyeuristic quality of the scene suggests ordinary people at leisure rather than classical nymphs. Rembrandt's spontaneous linework captures movement and light with notable freedom.

The print reflects the artist's interest in natural human behavior over idealized beauty. His willingness to show ungainly poses and realistic bodies challenged academic conventions. Now at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, this etching demonstrates his radical approach to the nude figure.