Rembrandt is famous for his self portraits for which he used mirrors. He also used mirrors as a compositional device. This created a sense of balance in his drawings and doubled his subject matter.
1. Reality and Reflection in One Drawing
In the cases of The Musicians, The Mummers and The Drummers we are able to see how Rembrandt used the reflections to double the subject matter. There are nearly eighty other examples of this procedure that could be cited among Rembrandt's drawings.
2. Rembrandt Makes Separate Drawings of Reality - and Reflection
ANOTHER way Rembrandt used mirrors was to draw from reality for one drawing and use the reflections for the subject of a separate drawing. In his eleven drawings of The Dismissal of Hagar four were drawn from reality and seven were drawn from reflections. The eleven drawings and one etching of the same subject were all observed and drawn by Rembrandt, from the same viewpoint in his studio.