Zutphen woman unwittingly inherits 35 Rembrandt etchings from grandfather

Charlotte Meyer from Zutphen was pleased when her grandfather left her his collection of “beautiful prints,” only to later discover during the pandemic that they were, in fact, 35 original etchings by Dutch master Rembrandt van Rijn. She has since expanded her collection to 70 etchings by Rembrandt and his contemporaries, and the full collection will be on display in the Stedelijke Museum Zutphen next month.

In addition to his paintings, Rembrandt (1606/7-1669) also created hundreds of etchings. Many of these ended up with collectors and ordinary enthusiasts. Meyer’s grandfather was such an enthusiast. He collected the etchings between 1900 and 1920.

“It’s such a beautiful story, one you can only dream about,” Meyer told Omroep Gelderland. “Nobody was interested in etchings back then. They were nothing special. For just a few guilders, my grandfather bought 35 different ones.”

“My grandmother didn’t pay any attention to them. We kept them, but nobody really expected anything from them,” Meyer told the broadcaster. When her grandfather died, he left the etchings to her.

For years, the works sat untouched in a drawer because she thought they were just beautiful prints. But when she was packing out after a move during the coronavirus pandemic, she stopped and flipped through her grandfather’s old folder. “There were several etchings in there. Small images, some only 10 by 5 centimeters.” Meyer suddenly started to wonder if she had more than she thought.

She contacted the experts at the Rembrandt House in Amsterdam. According to her, they initially humored her very kindly, but were “completely blown away” when they came to see the collection at her house. “They said, ‘Charlotte, you have no idea what you’ve got!’”

Since then, Meyer has expanded her collection, adding even more etchings by Rembrandt and his contemporaries. Meyer’s collection of 70 etchings will be on display at the Stedelijk Museum Zutphen from March 21 to June 14.