KNOXVILLE, TN.- The Knoxville Museum of Art presents rare etchings in Sordid and Sacred: The Beggars in Rembrandt’s Etchings from June 8 through September 2, 2007. Widely recognized as the greatest practitioner of the etching technique in the history of art, Rembrandt created hundreds of prints that constitute a body of work unparalleled in richness and beauty. The Sordid and Sacred exhibition is dedicated to images of beggars, which Rembrandt portrays sympathetically.

The exhibition includes 35 prints made from copper plate etchings, which date between 1629 and 1654, when Rembrandt was most actively involved with the medium. The works on display will allow museum visitors to have the opportunity to see how Rembrandt experimented with inks, paper, and the reworking of the copper plates to enhance the visual impact of the imagery. The exhibition is accompanied by Rembrandt and His Legacy: Master Etchings from Knoxville Collections, a group of prints demonstrating Rembrandt’s influence on printmaking over the course of three centuries.

Sordid and Sacred: The Beggars in Rembrandt’s Etchings is drawn from the John Villarino Collection in Los Angeles , California , and organized by Landau Traveling Exhibitions.

Sponsors for this exhibition include Regions Bank, and Sandra and Monroe Trout. Media sponsors include WBIR, Real Yellow Pages, Method Bureau and Digital Media Graphix.