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Lot Essay
The prints of beggars and homeless people in the present and following lots are testament to Rembrandt’s unique gift of observation, but also his empathy and respect for the least fortunate of society.
The prosperous and relatively peaceful towns and cities of Holland must have attracted refugees from all over Europe, fleeing persecution, violence and famine caused by the Thirty Years' War (1618-1635) and related conflicts. Beggars and paupers were thus very present in the streets of Leyden and Amsterdam, and studies of them became a recurring subject in Rembrandt's burgeoning printed oeuvre.
The similarity in size and the bold, thicker-than-usual lines of the Beggar with a crippled Hand leaning on a Stick (lot 48) and the Old Beggar Woman with a Gourd (lot 49) suggest that they may have been intended as a pair or were possibly even cut from the same plate. The two prints are fine, rare examples of the artist’s fascination with people who lived on the fringes of society. These denizens of the streets provided Rembrandt with an opportunity to study humanity in all its variety, but there was also an artistic precedent: already the first cataloguer of Rembrandt's prints, Edmé-François Gersaint, in 1751 recognized the influence of the French printmaker Jacques Callot (1592-1635) on Rembrandt, and referred to his beggar prints as ‘Gueux, dans le gout de Callot’. Not dissimilar to Callot's larger figure studies, Rembrandt's lines here are very robust - he may in fact have used a broader etching needle - and in early pulls print with a heavy relief, generating striking contrasts with the blank areas. Stylistically, however, they are more rugged and raw than Callot's clean, elegant lines, and thus more adequate for the harsh reality they describe.
The Beggar with a crippled Hand leaning on a Stick is very rare in all six states and of the present third state only four impressions, including the present, are recorded.
The Woman with the Gourd is shown in a lost profile and her shaded face is reminiscent of the Old Woman seated in a Cottage with a String of Onions on the Wall created in the same year (B. 134; New Holl. 26; see Christie's, London, 7 December 2023, lot 55). The etching is known in two states; a unique impression of the first state with rough plate edges is at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. The present sheet is a fine and strong example of the second state, still showing the filing marks along the plate edges. It was once in the collection of Richard Houlditch, one of the notable Rembrandt collectors of the 18th century.
The prosperous and relatively peaceful towns and cities of Holland must have attracted refugees from all over Europe, fleeing persecution, violence and famine caused by the Thirty Years' War (1618-1635) and related conflicts. Beggars and paupers were thus very present in the streets of Leyden and Amsterdam, and studies of them became a recurring subject in Rembrandt's burgeoning printed oeuvre.
The similarity in size and the bold, thicker-than-usual lines of the Beggar with a crippled Hand leaning on a Stick (lot 48) and the Old Beggar Woman with a Gourd (lot 49) suggest that they may have been intended as a pair or were possibly even cut from the same plate. The two prints are fine, rare examples of the artist’s fascination with people who lived on the fringes of society. These denizens of the streets provided Rembrandt with an opportunity to study humanity in all its variety, but there was also an artistic precedent: already the first cataloguer of Rembrandt's prints, Edmé-François Gersaint, in 1751 recognized the influence of the French printmaker Jacques Callot (1592-1635) on Rembrandt, and referred to his beggar prints as ‘Gueux, dans le gout de Callot’. Not dissimilar to Callot's larger figure studies, Rembrandt's lines here are very robust - he may in fact have used a broader etching needle - and in early pulls print with a heavy relief, generating striking contrasts with the blank areas. Stylistically, however, they are more rugged and raw than Callot's clean, elegant lines, and thus more adequate for the harsh reality they describe.
The Beggar with a crippled Hand leaning on a Stick is very rare in all six states and of the present third state only four impressions, including the present, are recorded.
The Woman with the Gourd is shown in a lost profile and her shaded face is reminiscent of the Old Woman seated in a Cottage with a String of Onions on the Wall created in the same year (B. 134; New Holl. 26; see Christie's, London, 7 December 2023, lot 55). The etching is known in two states; a unique impression of the first state with rough plate edges is at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. The present sheet is a fine and strong example of the second state, still showing the filing marks along the plate edges. It was once in the collection of Richard Houlditch, one of the notable Rembrandt collectors of the 18th century.