A beggar with a wooden leg (B., Holl. 179; H. 12)

Details

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn
A beggar with a wooden leg (B., Holl. 179; H. 12)
etching, circa 1630, second (final) state, a good impression, with narrow to thread margins, in excellent condition
(FPR 69)
P., S. 112 x 66 mm.

Provenance

Christie's, London, 30 November 1993, lot 175

Special notice

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Lot Essay

Whilst Rembrandt's studies of beggars are generally free from the caricatural aspects of his contemporaries, he did not fall into the opposite trap of over-romanticising them. Here he depicts a beggar pretending to be a cripple by tying one leg behind him. In the inventory of Clement de Jonghe of 1679 the print appears under the title of Capteijn eenbeen (Captain One-leg), perhaps the name of a real-life denizen of the Amsterdam streets.
Reproduced actual size

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