拍品专文
The Monk in the Cornfield is one of the great and very elusive rarities in Rembrandt's printed oeuvre, aside from some unobtainable early experiments, abandoned plates and fragments. This sale may be the last opportunity to acquire an impression of this famous and once infamous print. Hinterding and Rutgers record a total of 18 impressions, all except the present one being in public collections. To our knowledge, only one other, from the Plessen-Cronstern Collection, has been offered at auction within the last thirty years.
The small yet surprisingly detailed print combines two different topoi of Northern European art: that of an amorous couple absconding from a wedding party or kermis for some fun in the bushes or a field; and anti-Catholic depictions of fornicating priests or monks. Rembrandt would have been familiar with the first from Dutch paintings of the mid-16th century in the manner of Bruegel, while the latter motif he presumably appropriated from Heinrich Aldegrever's engraving of The Monk and the Nun with the Devil in the Tree. Rembrandt was an ardent collector of prints and would have known and possibly owned an impression of the print.
The man, seen from behind and identifiable as a monk by his hooded habit and his tonsure, is kneeling over the woman and leaning onto his knuckles, while his toes are seeking purchase on the ground. Of the woman we see very little, except for her hands and bare legs. At the face of it, this sexual act seems consensual, as she pulls him towards her with her right hand and leg. As various commentators have pointed out, the large jug standing at right identifies her as a milkmaid, at the time a profession with a reputation for loose manners. They have lain down at the edge of a cornfield in summer, out of sight, as they believe, from any observers.
Rembrandt seems hardly interested in the anti-clerical propaganda and moral condemnation that is at the core of Aldegrever's print, unless we read the tiny figure of a reaper in the background as a warning of mortality and carnal sin. Yet the peasant with a scythe is hardly the equivalent of Aldegrever's devil in the tree. Rather, this distant human presence adds tension to the scene by implying the danger of detection for the copulating couple. The overall sentiment of this cheeky little genre scene is one of gentle titillation and amusement.
The dating of this little print is uncertain and based on the similar position of the pair here and the lovers on the so-called French Bed (B. 186; New Holl. 230), which bears the date 1646. These two prints are the most sexually explicit of Rembrandt's works, and their rarity is undoubtedly due to their overtly erotic content. While some impressions may have been destroyed out of moral inhibitions, The Monk in the Cornfield was never intended for a wider market, but only printed in small numbers for a close circle of friends and patrons.
The small yet surprisingly detailed print combines two different topoi of Northern European art: that of an amorous couple absconding from a wedding party or kermis for some fun in the bushes or a field; and anti-Catholic depictions of fornicating priests or monks. Rembrandt would have been familiar with the first from Dutch paintings of the mid-16th century in the manner of Bruegel, while the latter motif he presumably appropriated from Heinrich Aldegrever's engraving of The Monk and the Nun with the Devil in the Tree. Rembrandt was an ardent collector of prints and would have known and possibly owned an impression of the print.
The man, seen from behind and identifiable as a monk by his hooded habit and his tonsure, is kneeling over the woman and leaning onto his knuckles, while his toes are seeking purchase on the ground. Of the woman we see very little, except for her hands and bare legs. At the face of it, this sexual act seems consensual, as she pulls him towards her with her right hand and leg. As various commentators have pointed out, the large jug standing at right identifies her as a milkmaid, at the time a profession with a reputation for loose manners. They have lain down at the edge of a cornfield in summer, out of sight, as they believe, from any observers.
Rembrandt seems hardly interested in the anti-clerical propaganda and moral condemnation that is at the core of Aldegrever's print, unless we read the tiny figure of a reaper in the background as a warning of mortality and carnal sin. Yet the peasant with a scythe is hardly the equivalent of Aldegrever's devil in the tree. Rather, this distant human presence adds tension to the scene by implying the danger of detection for the copulating couple. The overall sentiment of this cheeky little genre scene is one of gentle titillation and amusement.
The dating of this little print is uncertain and based on the similar position of the pair here and the lovers on the so-called French Bed (B. 186; New Holl. 230), which bears the date 1646. These two prints are the most sexually explicit of Rembrandt's works, and their rarity is undoubtedly due to their overtly erotic content. While some impressions may have been destroyed out of moral inhibitions, The Monk in the Cornfield was never intended for a wider market, but only printed in small numbers for a close circle of friends and patrons.