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拍品專文
The Flight into Egypt: altered from Seghers is one of the most remarkable prints in Rembrandt’s graphic oeuvre, and unique in that he re-purposed not just the plate, but also the composition by another artist. Hercules Seghers (1589-1638) was an artist from Haarlem, who like Rembrandt spent much of his artistic life in Amsterdam, but preceded him by a generation. His specialty were intricate landscape paintings, often imaginary and mountainous, with stupendous weather - and light effects. As a printmaker, he is one of the great oddities in European art: he created a small body of extraordinary etchings, mostly landscapes and tree studies, often printed in colours, of a glittering, haunting, ethereal beauty. No two of his impressions are the same and all of his prints are extremely rare (today, only two prints by Seghers still remain in private hands). Rembrandt was an admirer of this elusive and – from the little we know of him – rather hapless artist: according to his bankruptcy inventory, he owned eight paintings by the older artist. We can only assume that Rembrandt also had some of Seghers’ prints in his collection, but from the present etching we do know that he owned one of his plates.
The plate originally depicted Tobias and the Angel. Seghers very rarely depicted figures, and while the landscape on this plate was entirely of his own design, the figures were based on an engraving by Hendrick Goudt (circa 1583-1648) after a painting by Adam Elsheimer (circa 1578-1610). Only two impression of Seghers’ print have survived, one in Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum; inv. no. RP-P-OB-796) and one in the Rothschild Collection in Paris (Louvre; inv. no. 2368 LR), each printed in a different shade of grey.
We do not know how or when Rembrandt obtained the plate. Seghers had been dead for 15 years by the time he started reworking the plate. Rembrandt burnished out the figures of Tobias and the Angel and in the second state inserted the Holy Family on their Flight into Egypt into the landscape. Remnants of the Angel’s wings can still be seen amongst the foliage of the trees at upper right.
The fact that Rembrandt decided to leave large parts of Seghers’ landscape untouched is remarkable, as their etching methods could not be more different. Seghers built up his landscapes out of tiny, almost molecular structures of varying density, while Rembrandt’s style, in particular when it came to landscapes, is far more linear and cursory. The difference can clearly be seen, for example in the trees at centre right, which Rembrandt added to cover the burnished area, or in the heavily reworked foreground – although Rembrandt did keep Seghers’ delightful lizard.
Only minor changes occurred after the second state, and all states are rare. The present impression is a very fine example of the fourth state, printed with selectively wiped highlights in the distant landscape and the face of Joseph, to draw attention to the narrative of the print, as Nicholas Stogdon points out (Stogdon, no. 23, p. 35).
The Flight into Egypt: altered from Seghers is a fascinating, multi-layered case of artistic influences, inspiration, and appropriation, and a beautiful tribute by one great artist to another.
The plate originally depicted Tobias and the Angel. Seghers very rarely depicted figures, and while the landscape on this plate was entirely of his own design, the figures were based on an engraving by Hendrick Goudt (circa 1583-1648) after a painting by Adam Elsheimer (circa 1578-1610). Only two impression of Seghers’ print have survived, one in Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum; inv. no. RP-P-OB-796) and one in the Rothschild Collection in Paris (Louvre; inv. no. 2368 LR), each printed in a different shade of grey.
We do not know how or when Rembrandt obtained the plate. Seghers had been dead for 15 years by the time he started reworking the plate. Rembrandt burnished out the figures of Tobias and the Angel and in the second state inserted the Holy Family on their Flight into Egypt into the landscape. Remnants of the Angel’s wings can still be seen amongst the foliage of the trees at upper right.
The fact that Rembrandt decided to leave large parts of Seghers’ landscape untouched is remarkable, as their etching methods could not be more different. Seghers built up his landscapes out of tiny, almost molecular structures of varying density, while Rembrandt’s style, in particular when it came to landscapes, is far more linear and cursory. The difference can clearly be seen, for example in the trees at centre right, which Rembrandt added to cover the burnished area, or in the heavily reworked foreground – although Rembrandt did keep Seghers’ delightful lizard.
Only minor changes occurred after the second state, and all states are rare. The present impression is a very fine example of the fourth state, printed with selectively wiped highlights in the distant landscape and the face of Joseph, to draw attention to the narrative of the print, as Nicholas Stogdon points out (Stogdon, no. 23, p. 35).
The Flight into Egypt: altered from Seghers is a fascinating, multi-layered case of artistic influences, inspiration, and appropriation, and a beautiful tribute by one great artist to another.