Jan Cornelis Sylvius, Preacher

In this posthumous portrait, Rembrandt depicts his family friend, the preacher Jan Cornelis Sylvius, with striking illusionistic flair. He presents him leaning forward within an oval frame, his right hand raised in mid-gesture, his head, hand and book casting shadows beyond the borderline, a visual device that makes the figure appear to break through the picture plane. This trope, associated with eloquence and rhetorical power, evokes a man whose sermons once animated the pulpit. Rembrandt mirrors this vitality in his printmaking, using spatial illusion to bring the image itself to life. (For further details on Sylvius’ life and his connection to the artist, see lot 10.)

Executed in etching, drypoint, and engraving, this is an impression of the second, final state. It is a remarkably fine and lively example; the illusionistic, three-dimensional effects particularly striking, heightening the illusion of presence. Tiny touches of burr and selectively wiped plate tone lend texture and vitality, while the light sulphur tinting across the face, a granular effect unique among Rembrandt’s portraits, enhances the sitter’s immediacy. Whether accidental or deliberate, this tinting echoes the grainy tonality of some of Rembrandt’s landscapes, such as A Cottage beside a Canal with a View of Ouderkerk and The Omval (see lots 62 & 63), and contributes to the print’s complexity and subtlety. Technically and compositionally ambitious, this etched portrait stands among Rembrandt’s most compelling explorations of presence and suggestion, and the power of the spoken word and the printed image.