Signed and dated in the plate lower left Rembrandt F. 1646

A fine strong and dark 17th century / lifetime impression of Bartsch and Usticke's first
state of two of this rare etching.

Printed before the additional work to the hair behind the right cheek and
below the right leg, from a plate that did not survive the artist's death.

Trimmed down to the platemark on a ll four sides, some thinning of the sheet at the edges, verso, otherwise in excellent condition. Literature: Clifford S. Ackley, Rembrandt's Journey: Painter-Draftsman-Etcher, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2003, no. 183, p. 270 (ill.) In 1646, Rembrandt organized figure-drawing sessions during which his students could work from nude models. His choice of relatively common sitters is remarkable for the time, as drawn studies and prints of nude males traditionally depicted athletic bodies of Herculean proportions. In this etching Rembrandt portrays the youth in a relaxed, almost harmonious pose. The treatment of the figure is free and spontaneous yet also very sculptural - a quality underscored by the embrace of the curtain, which serves as a shadowy niche to throw the brightly lit figure into higher sculptural relief. Rembrandt's simple but virtuoso technique produced varied, transparent shadows. A relaxed atmosphere and sense of the momentary is evident both in the boy's self-confident ease and in Rembrandt's free, but highly controlled, indication of the studio wall. Even within a body of etchings as spontaneous as Rembrandt's, these casual strokes convey a rarely equaled sense of carefree pleasure.

Bartsch 193 i/ii; Hind220; Biorklund-Barnard 46-B; Usticke 193

<< previous    [ return to Rembrandt index ]    next >>