Original etching printed in black ink on laid paper bearing a portion of a
Seven Provinces watermark (Ash/Fletcher 34).
Size: 5 15/16 x 6 3/4 inches
1642
Inquire about purchasing
Signed and dated in the plate lower center in the narrow title margin below the image Rembrandt f. 1642.
A fine 18th century impression of Bartsch's second and final state, Usticke's third state of five.
Printed after the back of the chair in the lower right corner was reduced in size and the outline of the hanging hat was added, probably issued by Pierre Francois Basan Circa 1790. Bearing an unidentified collection stamp, the monogram 'W.O.v.B1' (not in Lugt), in blue ink verso.
Trimmed down to the platemark all around, otherwise in excellent condition. St. Jerome, translator of the Bible, Cardinal and hermit, is one of the four Fathers of the Church. He is often depicted in art as a hermit in the wilderness. his lion is generally at his side, the lion that accompanied him, according to legend, since the time he extracted a thorn from its paw. It seems out of the ordinary that Jerome, who was mainly popular with Catholics in the 17th century, was depicted by Rembrandt so often in his etchings. Here, Jerome is deiced in a dark interior, seated behind a table. he is writing in a book. The lion under the table and the cardinals hat on the wall can barely be made out. The saint's room, with its spiral staircase, is very similar to that in a Rembrandt painting of a scholar in his study dating 1633 which now hangs in the Loucre.
Bartsch 105 ii/ii; Hind 201; Biorklund-Barnard 42-E; Usticke 105
