# Lieven Willemsz van Coppenol [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [REMBRANDT Harmenszoon van Rijn]() - Date: 1601-1650 - Technique: Oil on wood, 37 x 29 cm ## Commentary Lieven Willemsz van Coppenol c. 1657 Oil on wood, 37 x 29 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York <a href="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/database/glossary/note03.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=300,height=400'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return false">Catalogue number:</a> Bredius 291. This panel is most probably Rembrandt's oil sketch made in preparation for his etching known as the "Large Coppenol" of 1658 \(and not a copy of it as some scholars assumed\). In the etching the composition is reversed, placing the pen in the calligraphers's right hand. Lieven Willemsz van Coppenol \(c. 1599-1671\) was a well-known calligrapher. His family originates from the Spanish Netherlands from where his grandparents fled and settled in Haarlem about 1579. Van Coppenol appears to have taken part in the development of calligraphy at every level, from schoolboy competitions to publishing, teaching, corresponding with peers, and finally striving, obsessively, to be recognized as the greatest calligrapher. He was far from achieving that distinction, although he had considerable skill. The authorship of this painting is questioned by critics, attributing it to a follower of Rembrandt. ## Related artworks - [A black drummer and commander mounted on mules; riding in profile]() - [A child being taught to walk]() - [A cottage beneath trees]() - [A girl sleeping]() - [A Man Laughing]() - [A man making water]() - [A Peddler Selling Spectacles \(The Allegory of Sight\)]() - [A Polish Nobleman]() - [A Scholar]() - [A two-humped camel]() - [A woman in Zeeland costume, from the back]() - [A woman in Zeeland costume, from the front]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()