All works › The Art Institute of Chicago

The Shell

Rembrandt van Rijn, 1650

1.70 m

Both at true scale.

13 cm × 9.7 cm

Smaller than your phone. You would need 13 of them to reach a person's height.

Against things you know the size of

Height: 9.7 cm
Width: 13 cm
Medium: Etching on ivory laid paper
Kind: Print
Made in: Holland
Where the measurement comes from: Measured by the museum. The dimension is the one recorded by the institution that holds the work.
As the museum records it: Plate: 9.7 × 13.2 cm (3 7/8 × 5 1/4 in.)
Credit: Clarence Buckingham Collection

Five questions, answered from its own record. What is AGAI?

How big is it?: 13 cm × 9.7 cm. Smaller than your phone. Measured by the museum.
When was it made, and when is it everyone’s?: Made 1650. It is in the public domain, and The Art Institute of Chicago publishes it for open use.
Whose is it?: Everyone’s to see. It is held by The Art Institute of Chicago: Clarence Buckingham Collection.
How was it made?: Etching on ivory laid paper, made in Holland.
Who speaks for it?: Its record at The Art Institute of Chicago. Measured by the museum. This gallery adds nothing it cannot cite.

One email. The smallest thing in the collection, the largest, and two that hang well together.

Scored on colour, shape, era and scale, the same way the gallery hangs them.