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Rembrandt’s etching, sometimes called “Doctor Faustus” (1652), emphasized occult symbolism by having such a symbol appear in the place of a radiant sol iustiae shining through the stained glass of his study. It is known that Goethe admired Rembrandt’s painting and obtained a reproduction of it, illustrating with it his 1790 first edition Faust. The title given to this etching, one of a series showing scholars in their study, probably derives in turn from Goethe. It is not in any of the early Rembrandt catalogues.... The light symbol which come s through the window does have significance for Freemasonry, although Rembrandt may have been unaware of how the Masons would later construe it. The cross within the circle was not for Masons a Christian symbol, but a symbol of nature and creative wisdom; the letters INRI within each quarter of the crossed circle might be identified by a Christian with the inscription on the cross, “Ihesu Nazareth Rex Iudaorum,” but for Masons this came to signify rather “Igne Natura Renovatur Integra”—suggesting the sacred fire of Masonry that renews humankind naturalistically.
—David Lyle Jeffrey