REMBRANDT HARMENSZ. VAN RIJN

Landscape with Trees, Farm Buildings and a Tower (B., Holl. 223; H. 244; BB. 50-4)

Details

REMBRANDT HARMENSZ. VAN RIJN
Landscape with Trees, Farm Buildings and a Tower (B., Holl. 223; H. 244; BB. 50-4)
etching and drypoint, circa 1651, on fine laid paper with part of a Strasburg Lily watermark and countermark initals WK (similar to Heawood nos. 1663-65, dated 1646), fourth (final) state, a very fine impression, printed with a light tone and with touches of burr, with narrow margins almost all round, a very small repaired surface abrasion on the track leading to the left, a few very slight thin spots at the sheet edges showing only on the reverse, a few other very minor defects
P. 4¾ x 12 5/8in. (120 x 218mm.)

Provenance

E. Rudge, according to a note on Dr. Blum's old mat (cf. L.900 and supplement); Christie's London, Dec. 16-17, 1924, possibly Lot 219, described as 'third state', presumably following Rovinski's and not Hind' state classification (#399 to Dunthorne; Lot 218 contained a 'first state' and a counterproof and sold for #966 to Lugt)
Dr. Albert W. Blum, his stamp verso (not in Lugt)

Lot Essay

A view of Het Torentje a manor and dependencies between Naarden and Oud Bussum which belonged to Jan Uytenbogaert, the Receiver General, of whom Rembrandt also etched a portrait in 1639 (B. 281). It depicts a favorite theme of the artist, a small group of buildings embowered in trees. The theme here is given its broadest expression, both in the panorama it depicts and the size of the plate which Rembrandt utilized. In the four states through which the plate was worked, Rembrandt corrected the balance by small but significant alterations. The most telling of these being the changes on the tower to the right, from which the cupola is removed.