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Signed and dated in the plate upper left Rembrandt f. 1637.

A strong, sharp and clear 17th century/lifetime impression of Bartsch, Hind and Biorklund-Barnard's only state of this rare etching, characterized by G.W.. Nowell-Usticke as 'a rare plate, with a handsome portrait' and assigned his scarcity rating of 'RR' (Usticke estimated that in 1967 there were only 50 to 75 impressions extant)

Trimmed down to the platemark on all four sides, otherwise in excellent condition. Collections in which impressions of this etching can be found: Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; Kupferstichkabinett der Staatlichen Museen, Berlin-Dahlem; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; StŠdelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt-on-Main; Teylers Stichting, Haarlem; Ermitage Museum, Leningrad; The British Museum, London; Pierpont Morgan Library, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; Duthuit Collection, Petit Palais, Paris; Collection Edmond de Rothschild, Musee du Louvre, Paris; Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna. Portraits occupy an important place in Rembrandt's oeuvre. Even in his Leiden days he was already making studies of old men and women, for which his own parents would also doubtless have posed. The prints were probably not intended to be substantive works of art, but were rather RembrandtŐs way of practicing ways of depicting a range of facial expressions. Between 1633 and 1664 Rembrandt made about twenty portrait etchings. Most of them were not executed for commercial publication as prints or book illustrations, but were private prints made for personal reasons. When this etching of 1637 is compared with RembrandtŐs earlier studies of old men, or his early paintings of old men in oriental garb, the artist's deeper concern with the expression of an individualized personality is all the more striking. In this fine portrait RembrandtŐs masterly use of the medium through an extraordinary range of strokes, from broad contours to rapid scribbles to tiny flecks of the etching needle, is evident in such detail as the sitter's beard, his cape and the subtle definition of his face.

Bartsch 313; Hind 150; Biorklund-Barnard 37-B; Usticke 313

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