Self-Portrait with Saskia (B., Holl. 19; H. 144)

Details

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn
Self-Portrait with Saskia (B., Holl. 19; H. 144)
etching, 1636, second state (of three), a good impression, with the vertical scratch through Rembrandt's hand and the horizontal scratch across Saskia's breast still visible, with margins, the upper right sheet corner replaced, just touching the platemark, a short backed tear at the upper left corner extending 5 mm. along the platemark, some pale brown stains at the upper corners, the tip of the lower right sheet corner made-up, otherwise in good condition
P. 105 x 95 mm., S. 114 x 104 mm.

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Lot Essay

Aside from the painted double portrait of Rembrant as the Prodigal Son and Saskia as a whore (Dresden, Gemäldegalerie) - which can hardly be categorised as simple portraiture - this is the only image Rembrandt created as testimony to his marriage to Saskia.
'This etching with husband and wife is not a domestic scene, but an allusion to the significance of marriage to the artist and his art. Love as the nourishing source of artistic creativity is a common theme in literature of the 16th and 17th centuries - a theme encapsulated in by the Dutch motto Liefde baart kunst (Love brings forth art). 17th century Dutch painters depicted this motto in family and double portraits, but this is a unique treatment of the subject in 17th century printmaking.'
(Rembrandt by himself, ed. Chistopher White and Quentin Buvelot, National Gallery, London, 1999, cat. 46, pp. 162).

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