Young Man in Cap: Bust

This small and charming little portrait is generally considered to be by Rembrandt, with additional work by a member of his workshop, probably Jan van Vliet. A collaboration of this kind would certainly explain the use of etching in combination with burin and the very solid lines, which are uncharacteristic of Rembrandt's method and style. The young sitter, depicted in profile to the right, wears a coat with fur collar, his neck-long, curly hair protrudes from under his high, soft cap and frames his face, marked by a gentle and somewhat melancholic gaze. Almost nothing has been written about this print, and its rarity may have contributed to the shortage of literature. The small plate has been reworked in five states, of which only a total of nine impressions are recorded, including the present example which, to our knowledge is the first one to be offered at auction in over thirty years. The provenance is remarkable and can with a reasonable degree of probability be traced back all the way to Rembrandt's lifetime (see also lots 70 & 84). The mark of John Barnard, one of the most discerning and illustrious print collectors of the 18th century, is the link to an even more distant past: his prints by Rembrandt are believed to have come, through the hands of the London-based painter and art dealer Arthur Pond and the Dutch engraver Jacobus Houbraken, from the old collection of the Six Family - Jan Six was Rembrandt’s friend and patron, and later Burgomaster of Amsterdam.