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149
●
REMBRANDT VAN RIJN
Self Portrait Leaning on a Stone Sill
.
Etching and drypoint, 1639. 206x163 mm; 8
1
/
4
x6
1
/
2
inches. Biörklund’s second state (of
2), with the cap band completed; Usticke’s second state (e) (of 3);White and Boon’s second
state (of 2). Partial star watermark (Hinterding, volume III, p. 181, he cites this watermark
on another impression of this subject now in a private collection). A very good, well-
inked and crisp impression of this extremely scarce etching, with little to no sign of wear
and with touches of drypoint to the left of the cap.
“In this, Rembrandt’s most detailed etched self-portrait, he is dressed in Renaissance
costume. He drew inspiration fromTitian’s painting, the so-called
Portrait of Ariosto
, which
in Rembrandt’s day was in the Amsterdam collection of Alfonso Lopez . . . But in 1639
he also saw Raphael’s portrait of
Baldassare Castiglione
, now in the Louvre, when it was
auctioned in Amsterdam and purchased by Lopez for 3,500 guilders,” (Luijten/Royalton-
Kisch,
Rembrandt the Printmaker
, London, 2000, pp. 166-69).
According to Usticke, “Very scarce—a most desirable portrait (RR-).” Bartsch 21;
Biörklund 39-E; Hollstein (White and Boon 21).
[40,000/60,000]