5188 - Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn The Landscape with the Sketcher. Etching and drypoint. 12.1 x 20.8 cm. Circa 1641. B. 219, White/Boon (Hollstein) 219, Nowell-Usticke 219, Hinterding/Rutgers (New Hollstein) 201. Rembrandt’s landscape etchings are among the rarer prints in his graphic oeuvre; Rembrandt produced only a relatively small number of prints. This also applies to the present sheet: since the plate was lost early on, no later prints exist. In the foreground on the right, a man wearing a tall hat sits drawing with a pencil and sketchpad the typical Dutch farmhouse—a kind of “Stolpboerderij”—located in front of him. The figure of the artist is generally interpreted as a self-portrait of Rembrandt. The artist is said to have enjoyed sketching from life in the Amsterdam area. An excellent, well-balanced print, predominantly with a fine border around the plate edge, partially cut into the border at the top and on the left. The paper is slightly unevenly browned overall, with a light brown spot in the sky, a closed, diagonal tear in the upper left corner, the upper right corner carefully reattached, isolated thin spots along the outermost edges with occasional tiny discolorations, subtle accent lines, such as in the branches of the trees, the chimney, the wagon on the right in the middle ground, and the archway to the left of it; the collector’s stamp faintly visible in the lower right corner; other minor signs of wear; otherwise, a well-preserved print of this rare subject. From a previously unknown collection titled “Ligated Initials in a Circle” (not listed in Lugt). - Please ask for condition reports for individual lots, as the condition is usually not mentioned in the catalog. - Please ask for condition reports for individual lots, as the condition is usually not mentioned in the catalog.