Tattoo Enthusiasts Have One More Week to Get a Rembrandt Inked for $400 or Less

Fans of both body art and the Dutch Golden Age have one more week to book an appointment for a Rembrandt-themed tattoo at the Rembrandt House Museum.

The museum—located in the artist’s former canal-side home in central Amsterdam—is halfway through a two-week public event called “The Poor Man’s Rembrandt Project,” organized with the renowned 74-year-old Dutch tattoo artist Henk Schiffmacher and his studio. (The Rembrandt House Museum held a similar event with Schiffmacher in 2023.)

This fall’s event wraps up on November 7, and at press time, slots are still available with Schiffmacher or one of the six other tattoo artists who have opened up a temporary studio in the museum. Clients can book sessions ranging from 100 to 350 euros, or about $110 to $390, and choose from any number of designs culled from Rembrandt’s drawings and etchings.

Options include one of the artist’s recognizable self-portraits; a palette adorned with Amsterdam’s triple-X coat of arms; Hansken, the famous elephant that Rembrandt drew when she toured Amsterdam; and a number of other figure groupings and scenes.

As part of the project, Schiffmacher put out a call for someone willing to have Rembrandt’s The Descent from the Cross tattooed onto his back. About 50 people expressed interest, Schiffmacher told the New York Times, but many had scars or birthmarks that would interfere with the design. Enter production designer Bo Kwakernaak, a “completely clean, young man with a beautiful back,” according to Schiffmacher. He and his colleagues have been collaborating on the post-Crucifixion scene over several sessions.

The museum doesn’t see this public tattooing event as a gimmick. Epco Runia, the Rembrandt House’s head of collections and research, thinks there is a real connection between the prints Rembrandt made (which make up most of the museum’s permanent collection) and the art of tattooing, in that both are effective tools of image dissemination. “I think [Rembrandt] would have some kind of click with Henk Schiffmacher,” Runia told the Times. “They have a little bit the same kind of character.”