A Man making Water

In times past, those who took it upon themselves to categorize Rembrandt’s prints were prone to grouping this print, together with its female counterpart (lot 54) and others etchings of a sexual or scatological nature under the heading of sujets libres (‘free subjects’). Such was the discomfort they caused that certain scholars were moved to doubt their authenticity – the idea that such a towering genius could have stooped so low was something they found hard to comprehend. And yet there is no question that they are by anyone other than Rembrandt, nor should it have proved so disconcerting, since ribald images have been a feature of the Western artistic tradition, particularly in printmaking, for centuries. The Beham brothers but also Heinrich Aldegrever in the first half of the 16th century, were particularly drawn to such bawdy subjects, and it is likely that Rembrandt owned or at least knew some of their exquisite, and often subversive engravings.
Not dissimilar to The Monk in the Cornfield (lot 90), Rembrandt in these two small prints chose motives which could be found in Flemish paintings, as amusing details at the periphery of a kermis or peasant feast, but isolated them and made them the central subject of his etchings.
Since Rembrandt worked two centuries before numbered editions were a part of artistic practice, we do not know how many of these prints were made. They were printed in a piecemeal fashion, as and when there was demand. What we can however gauge is how frequently they appear in today’s market, and the present subjects are very rare indeed. It is likely that in the intervening four hundred years the majority of impressions, considered too scandalous and offensive, were destroyed.