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Lot Essay
Rembrandt’s Jupiter and Antiope: smaller Plate is one of the artist’s earliest treatments of a mythological subject and one of his rare forays into the erotic genre. The print depicts the god Jupiter, transformed into a satyr, leaning over the sleeping Antiope, whose body lies illuminated in a tender and vulnerable repose. The scene is intimate rather than overtly sensual, with the light touch characteristic of Rembrandt’s early 1630s work.
Executed when the artist was refining his command of etching and drypoint, the small plate contrasts markedly with the large plate of the same subject completed almost thirty years later, where the focus lies almost entirely on Jupiter's gaze at the naked body and the tension between the two figures (see Christie's, London, 7 December 2023, lot 69). The present print is more atmospheric, with the tighter format and light shading of the background evoking the intimacy of Antiope's bed chamber. Hinterding has noted how convincingly Rembrandt renders Antiope’s sleep, her features relaxed with a naturalism rarely attempted by his contemporaries.
Executed when the artist was refining his command of etching and drypoint, the small plate contrasts markedly with the large plate of the same subject completed almost thirty years later, where the focus lies almost entirely on Jupiter's gaze at the naked body and the tension between the two figures (see Christie's, London, 7 December 2023, lot 69). The present print is more atmospheric, with the tighter format and light shading of the background evoking the intimacy of Antiope's bed chamber. Hinterding has noted how convincingly Rembrandt renders Antiope’s sleep, her features relaxed with a naturalism rarely attempted by his contemporaries.