A 'Poor Man's Rembrandt' for a Few Hundred Bucks? At Amsterdam's Rembrandt House Museum

Visitors can choose from dozens of designs pulled from Rembrandt’s works, including lions, windmills and even his self-portraits. One participant was selected for a full-back tattoo of "The Descent from the Cross". A ‘Poor Man’s Rembrandt’ for a Few Hundred Bucks? At Amsterdam’s Rembrandt House Museum, a Pop-Up Tattoo Studio Is Inking 17th-Century Masterpieces on Human Canvases.

Renowned tattoo artist Henk Schiffmacher is once again leading the "Poor Man’s Rembrandt Project," which enjoyed successs during its first iteration in 2023. Mark Bolk, courtesy of Schiffmacher and Veldhoen / Museum Rembrandthuis Four centuries after famed painter and draughtsman Rembrandt van Rijn defined the Dutch Golden Age with a vivid mastery of light, shadow and emotional depth, his works are once again emerging prolifically in his home country. This time, however, the canvases are human skin.

In a pop-up studio at Amsterdam’s Rembrandt House Museum, where the artist lived and worked for 19 years, a team of renowned tattoo artists have embarked on a two-week effort to recreate the Old Master’s etchings and paintings in ink. For between roughly $110 and $390, the “ Poor Man’s Rembrandt Project ” is offering visitors the chance to book a tattoo session and leave with a souvenir that lasts a lifetime. “Globally, more tattoos are sold than wall art.

An old tattoo artist once called tattoos ‘the poor man’s Rembrandt’—a work of art more affordable than a painting by the old master, yet no less carefully chosen or executed,” Henk Schiffmacher, a world-famous tattoo artist and the project’s lead, says in a statement. “For us, it is an incredible honor to work in the very place where Rembrandt’s spirit still lingers.” The Poor Man’s Rembrandt Project Watch on Schiffmacher, known in the business as Hanky Panky, is joined by artists Tycho Veldhoen, Morrison Cheyenne Schiffmacher, Rupa van Teylingen, Frederik Moens and Olof Arrevik.