Signed with the artists monogram and dated in the plate in the title margin below the image RL 1630.

A fine clear 17th century/lifetime impression of Bartsch's second and final state, Usticke's first and only state, Usticke's first and only state.

Printed after the plate was cut down removing the otherwise blank space at the top, in which the delicate work in the upper left quadrant remains faintly visible, the balance of the impression strong and dark, showing a touch of burr on the left hand of the priest.

A pin hole in the sheet in the back of the kneeling man at the right, otherwise in excellent condition trimmed down to or just outside the platemark on all four sides. Provenance: Wilma Wayne Gallery, London; Private Collection, Virgina. Literature: Clifford S. Ackley , Rembrandt's Journey: Painterr-Draftsman-Etcher, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2003, no. 1, p63 (ill.) 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; Teylers Stichting, Haarlem; Ermitage Museum, Leningrad; The British Museum, London; Duthuit Collection, Petit Palais, Paris; Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna. Over time, Rembrandt returned obsessively to certain biblical narratives. The three etched versions of 'The Presentation in the Temple', dating from 1630 to1654, are classic examples of such variations. The evangelist Luke (Luke 2:22-39) tells how Christ's parents brought the newborn child to the temple to be presented to the priest, as Jewish law required that first-born sons be brought to the Lord's temple thirty days after birth. Luke relates that in Jerusalem there was an inspired holy man, Simeon, who had a revelation from the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah. Simeon is directed by the Holy Spirit to visit the Temple, where he intercepts Christ's parents, takes the child in his arms and offers up a song of praise to the Lord, stating that he can now depart in peace because 'mine eyes have seen thy salvation.' Simultaneously, a pious elderly prophetess, Anna, happens upon the scene and shares in Simeon's moment of revelation. The 1630 etched 'Presentation in the Temple' is one of three highly finished, minituristic compositions dealing with episodes from the childhood of Christ, dated or datable in style and format to 1630 (B. 48 & 66). The interior is divided between an open, brightly lit space on the left and the crowded scene to the right of center, behind which a shadowy staircase leads upward to the high priest's throne in the depths of the temple. The principal figures are dramatically lit from the side but are very small in scale, and there are a number of lively visual incidents that draw the eye away from them. In the left middle distance, for example, a young girl stares curiously at the viewer. Even more surprisingly, at the far left, the dark silhouette of a crippled beggar vanishes off the edge of the plate. Under these distracting circumstances, it is understandable that Rembrandt resorted to the rather obvious device of an angel who leans over Anna's shoulder and points in order to direct her attention (and ours) to the central event. The prominent beggar, one of a host of beggars and street people Rembrandt drew and etched in the late 1620's and early 1630's, may in fact be an oblique allusion to Christ's future ministry of the healing of the poor and the sick. The focus here is not on Simeon's prayer of thanksgiving, but rather on a moment in Luke's narrative in which Simeon directly addresses Mary, the mother of Christ, predicting that her child will be the cause of much turmoil in Israel and that a 'sword' will pierce her soul.

Bartsch 51 ii/ii; Hind 18; Biorklund/Barnard 30-C; Usticke 51

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