.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Peter Schatborn has confirmed the attribution to Rembrandt on studying an illustration of the drawing. Mr Schatborn writes:
This drawing, probably cut from a larger sheet with studies of heads and figures, is one of a group of figure drawings in black chalk made by Rembrandt in the mid-forties. This dismemberment of the artist's study sheets explains the small size of some of Rembrandt surviving drawings, although some of them have been preserved in their original state.
Benesch compares the present drawing to the Girl leaning out of a window in the Prince's Gate Collection at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, (Benesch no. 700, fig. 889), which is related to a painting of 1645 in the Dulwich Picture Gallery (Bredius no. 368). The Courtauld drawing was in the same lot as the present work in Lempereur's sale and was the following drawing in Friedrich August II's inventory. While the face of the man has been drawn very summarily - but still with distinct features - the hat seems hardly to have been indicated at all. Strikingly, Rembrandt has shaded his coat very carefully in different tones, leaving the hand just indicated. As usual, he has finished the sketch by adding strong lines depicting the collar and shoulder, while adding some shade behind the figure at the right.
Most of the sketches in black chalk do not have the subtle finish of this drawing. It can be compared to another small drawing in the C.J. Fodor Collection at the Amsterdam Historical Museum (Benesch no. 726, fig. 919), where Rembrandt has used similarly transparent shadows (B. Broos, Rembrandt en tekenaars uit zijn omgeving..., Amsterdam ,1981, no. 10).
We are very grateful to Mr Schatborn for preparing this note.
This drawing, probably cut from a larger sheet with studies of heads and figures, is one of a group of figure drawings in black chalk made by Rembrandt in the mid-forties. This dismemberment of the artist's study sheets explains the small size of some of Rembrandt surviving drawings, although some of them have been preserved in their original state.
Benesch compares the present drawing to the Girl leaning out of a window in the Prince's Gate Collection at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, (Benesch no. 700, fig. 889), which is related to a painting of 1645 in the Dulwich Picture Gallery (Bredius no. 368). The Courtauld drawing was in the same lot as the present work in Lempereur's sale and was the following drawing in Friedrich August II's inventory. While the face of the man has been drawn very summarily - but still with distinct features - the hat seems hardly to have been indicated at all. Strikingly, Rembrandt has shaded his coat very carefully in different tones, leaving the hand just indicated. As usual, he has finished the sketch by adding strong lines depicting the collar and shoulder, while adding some shade behind the figure at the right.
Most of the sketches in black chalk do not have the subtle finish of this drawing. It can be compared to another small drawing in the C.J. Fodor Collection at the Amsterdam Historical Museum (Benesch no. 726, fig. 919), where Rembrandt has used similarly transparent shadows (B. Broos, Rembrandt en tekenaars uit zijn omgeving..., Amsterdam ,1981, no. 10).
We are very grateful to Mr Schatborn for preparing this note.