The Windmill

In this print Rembrandt van Rijn depicts a windmill on a raised platform next to a dilapidated, thatched cottage surrounded by a fence. A figure carrying a sack enters the windmill at right, while another figure works under the platform. The scene is set against a flat, empty landscape with a low horizon. The cracked lines and haziness of the sky may allude to Rembrandt's subject-the Little Stink Mill, a windmill in Amsterdam which tanned leather with foul-smelling cod liver oil. The artist knew the working of windmills well, since his father had owned one on the outskirts of Rembrandt's hometown of Leiden.