Saint Peter and Saint John healing the Cripple at the Gate of the Temple (B., Holl. 94; H. 301)

Details

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn
Saint Peter and Saint John healing the Cripple at the Gate of the Temple (B., Holl. 94; H. 301)
etching with drypoint and engraving, 1659, a fine impression on warm-toned layered Japon, with vertical polishing scratches in the sky and burr throughout, with thread margins, occasional short, soft creases, an area of skinning on the reverse and minor defects from previous mounting, otherwise in good condition
P. 179 x 215 mm., S. 181 x 217 mm.

Provenance

H. Finch, 5th Earl of Aylesford (L. 58).

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Lot Essay

Whilst the encounter between the two Apostles and the lame man is part of the standard repertoire of illustrations from the Acts of the Apostles, Rembrandt has chosen not to illustrate the miracle itself. Instead he portrays but the action immediately preceding it, when Peter accosts the man saying that he can neither give him silver nor gold, but can heal him in the name of Christ (Acts 3: 1-10). He may well have based the figure of Peter on an etching (B. 95), now extremely rare and technically unsuccessful, which he made thirty years earlier. In the last years of the 1650's Rembrandt's interest in Biblical subjects started to wane, and this is the last one he ever made.

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