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Lot Essay
This lovely little print is a very fine example of the early, almost stamp-sized self-portraits Rembrandt created in his early years as a printmaker. For the young artist, the purpose of these small facial sketches (called 'tronies' in Dutch) was to flex his artistic muscles, to study the physiognomy of a person and the play of light and shadow on a face, and to convey emotional states and fleeting expressions. It seems he simply used himself as a model - the resulting self-portraiture being almost coincidental. In the present print, unlike the first one in this catalogue, Rembrandt is already introducing interesting headgear and garments to the image, a characteristic of many of his later self-portraits, in this case a cap and a fur coat. Whether he just liked to dress up or these were clothes he actually wore, these costumes added variety and gave him the opportunity to render different textures and surfaces, in addition to his frizzy hair and full face. The soft cap pulled forward casts a shadow on his forehead, the profile facing to the right is more pronounced and his eyes are cast downwards, giving him a pensive, even slightly melancholic air, compared to the more confrontational previous one.
Of the ten states recorded in New Hollstein, Hinterding and Rutgers considered the first five entirely by Rembrandt’s hand; for the present sixth to the ninth state they did not discard the possibility of minor reworks, possibly by his contemporary and early collaborator Jan van Vliet (1605-1668); only the rework on the tenth, final state they firmly attributed to another hand. This small and utterly charming self-portrait is rare in all but the final state, and even if there was any rework by another hand, Rembrandt’s etching style and his facial features remain largely unaltered.
The present and the following three lots were among the first acquisitions of Sam Josefowitz through the rather eccentric art dealer (and sound engineer) Ira Gale, who had first sparked Sam’s passion for collecting Rembrandt’s etchings after a chance encounter on an aeroplane. These were acquired in 1970, at the first of two posthumous auctions of the Viscount Downe's collection, which Frits Lugt considered one of the most important private holdings in Britain - a respectable foundation for what became an unparalleled collection.
Of the ten states recorded in New Hollstein, Hinterding and Rutgers considered the first five entirely by Rembrandt’s hand; for the present sixth to the ninth state they did not discard the possibility of minor reworks, possibly by his contemporary and early collaborator Jan van Vliet (1605-1668); only the rework on the tenth, final state they firmly attributed to another hand. This small and utterly charming self-portrait is rare in all but the final state, and even if there was any rework by another hand, Rembrandt’s etching style and his facial features remain largely unaltered.
The present and the following three lots were among the first acquisitions of Sam Josefowitz through the rather eccentric art dealer (and sound engineer) Ira Gale, who had first sparked Sam’s passion for collecting Rembrandt’s etchings after a chance encounter on an aeroplane. These were acquired in 1970, at the first of two posthumous auctions of the Viscount Downe's collection, which Frits Lugt considered one of the most important private holdings in Britain - a respectable foundation for what became an unparalleled collection.