Original etching with drypoint and burin printed in black ink on laid paper bearing a
Foolscap with Seven Pointed Collar watermark (Ash/Fletcher 20).
Size: 7 7/8 x 5 15/16 inches
1656
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Signed and dated in the plate upper center Rembrandt / f. 1656. A richly printed 17th century / lifetime impression of Bartsch's second state of three Usticke's second state of six, printed after the addition to the plate of the window behind the sitter along with the artist's signature and dated, but before addition of the slightly curved diagonal lines of crosshatching just outside the upper right corner of the window, the sitter's right hand and his collar opening. Also bearing the inscription added to the plate in this state by another hand: 'Johannes Lutma Aurifex / Natus Groningae' (Johannes Lutma, goldsmith, born in Groningen). Also bearing the inscription added to the plate in this state by another hand: 'Johannes Lutma Aurifex / Natus Groningae' (Johannes Lutma, goldsmith, born in Groningen).
With thread margins on all four sides, a borderline added in black ink along the platemark, otherwise in excellent condition. Provenance: ex-collection Alexandre-Pierre-Francois Robert-Dumesnil (French, 1778-1864), the noted Parisian art historian and author of Peintre-Graveur Francais, known for the extent and quality of his collection of Old Master prints including over 300 prints by Rembrandt, with his collection stamp (Lugt 2200), a blindstamp, in the sheet 32 mm from the left borderline at the top edge of the sheet. Collections in which impressions of this state of this etching can be found: Rijkspretenkabinet, Rijksmuesum, Amsterdam; Kepferstichkabinett der Staatlichen Museen, Berlin-Dahlem; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Stadelesches Kunstinstitut, Franfurt-on-Main;Teylers Stichting, Haarlem; Ermitage Museum, Leningrad; The British Museum, London; Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; Duthuit Collection, Petit Palais, Paris; Fritz Lugt Collection, Institut Nerrlandais, Paris; Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna. In this 1656 portrait of the eminent gold and silversmith, Jan Lutma, the 72 year-old Lutma is seated in the same high-backed chair decorated with lion heads that provides the seating for the portraits of two other elderly sitters, Thomas Hatingh (Bartsch 274) and Arnold Tholinx (Bartsch 284). On the draped table to Lutma's left are a hammer and a container of metal punches, tools of his trade. Behind them is a silver drinking bowl in the Dutch biomorphic or 'lobate' style of metalwork of which Lutma was one of the greatest practitioners. Lutma holds in his right hand another example of his craftsmanship. His gaze is averted, reflective, his eyes cast down. One has the sense from Lutma's contracted brow and the ambiguous play of shadow over his features, that these are the outward manifestations of a powerful interior life. Whether Lutma might be conceiving new designs for metal work or pondering the struggles of his long artistic career is impossible to say, but one nevertheless has the sense that the physical relaxation of Lutma's body is accompanied by lively mental action.
Bartsch 276 ii/iii; hind 290; Biorklund-Barnard 56-C; Usticke 276 ii/vi
