Signed in the plate lower right Rembrandt / van-Rijn-fe. Signed and date in the title margin below the image lower left Rembrandt f. / 1639.

A dark, clear and sharp 17th century / lifetime impression of Bartsch's first state of two, Usticke's first state of four, showing a trace of burr on the sleeve of the pointing man, printed before the appearance of any retouching.

Trimmed down to or just outside the platemark on all four sides, otherwise in excellent condition. Collections in which impressions of this state of this etching can be found: Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; StŠdelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt-on-Main Teylers Stichting, Haarlem; Ermitage Museum, Leningrad; The British Museum, London; Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; Duthuit Collection, Petit Palais, Paris; Collection Edmond de Rothschild, Museee du Louvre, Paris; Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna. Joseph was seized by his brothers and sold to merchants as a slave. They then dipped his coat in the blood of a kid, and brought it to their father, telling him that they had found it that way in the desert. Joseph's father, Jacob, could only conclude that wild beasts had devoured Joseph. He fell into an inconsolable depression (Genesis 37:31-34) This is the only etching in Rembrandt's entire graphic oeuvre signed in the plate with his full name.

Bartsch 38 i/ii; Hind 104; Biorklund-Barnard 33-I; Usticke 38 i/iv

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