419 - Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (1606 Leiden - Amsterdam 1669), Cottages and Farm Buildings with a Man Sketching .

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (1606 Leiden - Amsterdam 1669), Cottages and Farm Buildings with a Man Sketching . Etching on laid paper, watermark Foolscap with Five-Pointed collar (cf. Hinterding, variant K.a.). (c. 1641). 13.1 x 21.1 cm (sheet). Bartsch 219; White/Boon 219; Hinterding/Rutgers (The New Hollstein) 201 only state. Provenance: Recto with an unidentified collector's stamp (Lugt 1718a); possibly the same collection as Lugt 1718; Louis Corot (after 1840– before 1930); Unidentified collector's stamp ‘JS‘ verso (not in Lugt). A good lifetime impression of this very rare landscape, trimmed on or slightly within the platemark. A dilapidated farmhouse is a recurring motif in Rembrandt's etched landscapes. The richness of detail suggests that, like the draughtsman in the right foreground, Rembrandt often sketched such rural scenes directly from nature. Whether drawn entirely on site or developed later, the print is animated by its lively observation and ranks among the most charming of his landscape etchings. In New Hollstein (2013), Hinterding and Rutgers date the etching to around 1641. This appears inconsistent with the watermark evidence published by Hinterding in Rembrandt's Watermarks (2006), which instead suggests a first printing around 1645. – Occasional tiny brown spots. A faint, tiny coloured-pencil line in the sky at the left, otherwise in good condition. Taxation: differenzbesteuert (VAT: Margin Scheme).