A Peasant Calling Out ‘tis vinnich kout’ (Damned Cold)
Rembrandt almost certainly did not see these men in reality. He is actually responding to two peasants engraved a century earlier by the German artist Sebald Beham. One of them complains about the cold, while the other could care less. Unlike Beham’s grump, that by Rembrandt looks crotchety, while his cheerful man is laughing.