Us spectators

For the spectator, the best place to start looking-as-reading this image is at the bottom right, slowly moving upwards and leftwards, to the young man’s averted face and slyly back-looking eyes.

This direction-for-use is a powerful way of inviting viewers to enter the image, which is why I imagine Rembrandt composed the image with this mode of reading in mind. The black-and-white image consists mainly of lines, small stripes, and hatching.