REMBRANDT HARMENSZ. VAN RIJN (1606-1669)

Canal with a large Boat and a Bridge ('Het Schuytje op de voorgrondt')

Details

REMBRANDT HARMENSZ. VAN RIJN (1606-1669)
Canal with a large Boat and a Bridge ('Het Schuytje op de voorgrondt')
etching and drypoint
1650
on laid paper, without watermark
a very fine impression of the second, final state
printing with much burr and a light plate tone
with great contrasts and depth
with margins
generally in good condition
Plate 83 x 110 mm.
Sheet 96 x 121 mm.

Provenance

Unidentified, inscription (illegible) in red ink (not in Lugt).
Jonkheer Johann Goll van Franckenstein (1722-1785), his son Johann Goll van Franckenstein I (1756-1821), and his grandson Johann Goll van Franckenstein II (1787-1832), Amsterdam (inscribed N. 227 in brown ink, see Lugt 2987, and probably inscribed by the same hand 858 in pencil, see Lugt 6307).
Baron Charles Marochetti (1805-1867), Paris and London (Lugt 392); his sale, Sotheby's, London, 31 March 1868 (and three following days), lot 206 ('A very fine impression, with margin') (£ 13.5; to Posonyi).
With Alexander Emil Posonyi (1839-1899), Vienna (without stamp, see Lugt 2041).
Unidentified, letters SNRnd in pencil (not in Lugt).
With P. & D. Colnaghi & Obach, London (with their stocknumber C 3700 in pencil verso); acquired as part of a large group of prints from the Public Trustee on 25 June 1919 (according to Stogdon).
George Robert Basil Henderson (1897-1961), Brighton and Hove (without stamp and not in Lugt); acquired from the above; his posthumous sale, Sotheby's, London, 11 July 1968, lot 16.
With Mayfair Kunst, A. G. (Ira Gale), Zug; acquired at the above sale.
Sam Josefowitz (Lugt 6094); acquired from the above in 1970; then by descent to the present owners.

Literature

Bartsch, Hollstein 236; Hind 239; New Hollstein 252 (this impression cited)
Stogdon p. 317

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Lot Essay

This small and exquisite landscape has often been understood as the pendant of another small etching of the same year, Canal with an Angler and two Swans (B. 235; New Holl. 253), on the basis of the very similar size, style and the rounded platemark above. It has even been speculated that the two plates were once one long plate, which had subsequently been cut in two by Rembrandt, but this theory has gradually lost support.
The typical Dutch motif of the boat moored in a canal is enriched with a rocky landscape in the left background and other picturesque elements. The present example is a very fine, warm impression with much burr, of the second state. Of the first state, only six impressions are recorded.

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