Original etching printed in black ink on laid paper bearing the
Strasbourg Lily watermark (Ash/Fletcher A.a.)
Platemark: 8 7/8 x 7 3/8 inches
1635
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Signed and dated in the plate Rembrandt 1635.
A fine late 17th century / early 18th century impression of Bartsch's fifth state of six, Usticke's third state of six, printed after the irregular corners of the octagon at the left and right were evened, but well prior to the heavily reworked impressions issued in the Basan Recueil.
In excellent condition, with thread margins outside the platemark all around. Collection in which impression of this state of this etching can be found: Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; StŠdelesches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt-on-main; Ermitage Museum, Leningrad; The British Museum, London; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Pierpont Morgan Library, New York; Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna. As the leader of the Dutch Remonstrants, Uytenbogaert (1577-1644) played a central role in the history of his time. Until his banishment (1618-26), in the wake of the victory of orthodox Calvinism over Remonstrantism, he exercised great political influence, partly in his function as tutor of Prince Frederik Hendrik. After his return to Holland he settled in the Hague, but paid frequent visits to Amsterdam. This portrait of Uytenbogaert was Rembrandt's first official commission for an etched portrait. Until that time he had made portrait etchings only of members of his family. The official nature of this portrait is underlined by its Latin inscription ('He who was honored by the pious and the army was damned by the assembled preachers. Worse handled by fate than by time, he now returns, The Hague, to you.') Inscriptions such as these were a common feature of formal etched portraits in the 17th century, though a rarity in Rembrandt's own works.
Bartsch 279 v/vi; Hind 128; Biorklund-Barnard 35-D; Usticke 279 iii/iv
