Signed and dated in the plate at right Rembrandt f. 1636.

A strong 17th century / lifetime impression of Bartsch's third and final state, Usticke's third state of four, printed after the additional lines of vertical shading were added to the brim of the hat just above the left eye, but prior to the mezzotinting of the plate.

In excellent condition, with 1/8 to 3/16 inch margins on all four sides. Collections in which impressions of this state of this etching can be found: Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; StŠdelesches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt-on-Main; Teylers Stichting, Haarlem; Ermitage Museum, Leningrad; The British Museum, London; Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna. Samuel Manasseh Ben Isreal was a renowned scholar, as well as the rabbi of the Portuguese Jewish community in Amsterdam. He fled from Portugal with his parents as a child, and grew up in Amsterdam. He founded the first Jewish printshop there, where he produced editions of religious writings in Hebrew, Portuguese and Spanish. In 1655 Manasseh Ben Isreal lived in the Jobenbreestraat diagonally across from Rembrandt. During that year Rembrandt made four etching to illustrate his book La Piedra Gloriosa (Bartsch 36 A-D).

Bartsch 269 iii/iii; Hind 146; Biorklund-Barnard 36-c; Usticke 269 iii/iv*

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