Lot 264
264
Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VA… Read more
Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn

Cottage beside a Canal: A View of Diemen (B., Holl. 228; H. 212)

Details
Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn
Cottage beside a Canal: A View of Diemen (B., Holl. 228; H. 212)
etching with sulphur tint, circa 1645, a fairly good impression, the sulphur-tint in the sky still visible, trimmed to the platemark, two printer's creases at the right of the subject, a further shorter crease at the lower left only visible verso, otherwise in good condition
P., S. 139 x 207 mm.
Special notice
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Lot Essay

Efforts have been made to identify the location of this view, and Diemen and Ouderkerk have been put forward as likely candidates. However, it is probably a capriccio, a amalgam of the two. The print is essentially a study in how to represent a building close to the viewer, with a distant landscape beyond. This is a more successful attempt than the previous ones, where poor control of the biting process meant that there was little middle tone between deeply etched foreground and a very faint horizon. Here there is a careful, gradual recession, enhanced by the diagonal placement of the cottages that lead the eye to the distant view, rather than the frontal placement in the landscapes of 1641. The recession is accentuated by the meandering road leading directly away from the viewer. The skilful use of sulphur-tinting further serves to unite the whole, the near and the far, into a harmonious and evocative recreation of the countryside on a damp, overcast day.

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