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Lot Essay
Peter Schatborn has confirmed the attribution to Rembrandt on studying the drawing in the original. Mr Schatborn writes:
The theme of beggars was inspired by the etchings of the French artist Jacques Callot (1592-1635) and appears in Rembrandt's prints and drawings largely in the period form the late twenties to the mid-1630s. The style of A vagrant couple with a dog still shows some of the characteristics of Callot's prints, which can also be found in some early etchings, most similarly in the Beggar woman and man (Bartsch 183), of which only two impressions exist. These works probably belong to the earliest on this theme and can be dated at the end of the twenties.
The drawing was made on paper with an Italian watermark, which occurs in several chalk drawings from this period, amongst others three drawings of A standing beggar in the Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam (O. Benesch, op. cit., 1973, nos 2-4). The drawing in black chalk on the verso of the present drawing is only partly visible but the character of the lines corresponds with other drawings in this technique at this date.
We are grateful to Mr Schatborn for preparing this note.
The theme of beggars was inspired by the etchings of the French artist Jacques Callot (1592-1635) and appears in Rembrandt's prints and drawings largely in the period form the late twenties to the mid-1630s. The style of A vagrant couple with a dog still shows some of the characteristics of Callot's prints, which can also be found in some early etchings, most similarly in the Beggar woman and man (Bartsch 183), of which only two impressions exist. These works probably belong to the earliest on this theme and can be dated at the end of the twenties.
The drawing was made on paper with an Italian watermark, which occurs in several chalk drawings from this period, amongst others three drawings of A standing beggar in the Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam (O. Benesch, op. cit., 1973, nos 2-4). The drawing in black chalk on the verso of the present drawing is only partly visible but the character of the lines corresponds with other drawings in this technique at this date.
We are grateful to Mr Schatborn for preparing this note.