Signed and dated in the plate lower right Rembrandt f. 1641.

A superb dark and richly printed 17th century / lifetime impression of Bartsch and Usticke's only state of this rare etching, characterized by G.W.. Nowell-Usticke as a 'Very uncommon: a popular subject' and assigned his scarcity rating of 'R-' (Usticke estimated that in 1967 there were only 75 to 125 impression remaining extant), with the sulphur tinting a the left and the craquelure in the sky printing clearly, showing touches of burr on the foliage at the far center and on the signature and date lower right.

In excellent condition, printed on a sheet with thread margins outside the platemark all around. Provenance: ex-collection J. CantacuzŽne (not in Lugt) with his collection stamp on the verso; also bearing an unidentified collection stamp on the verso (not in Lugt). Literature: Boudewijn Baker, Maris van Berge-Gerbaud, Erik Schmitz, Jan Peeters, Landscapes of REmbrandt: His Favorite Walks, Gemeentearchief, Amsterdam, 1998, ill. 5, p. 195 (ill.); Erik Hinterding, Ger Luitjen, Martin Royalton-Kisch, Rembrandt the Printmaker, Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago & London, 2000, no. 41 p. 187 (ill.); Clifford S. Ackley, Rembrandt's Journey: Painter-Draftsman-Etcher, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2003, no. 119, p. 190 (ill.) Collections in which impression of this state of this etching can be found: Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; Kupferstichkabinett der Staatlichen Museen, Berlin-Dahlem; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; StŠdelesches Kunst institut, Frankfurt-on-Main; Teylers Stichting, Haarlem; Ermitage Museum, Leningrad; The British Museum, London; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Pierpont Morgan Library, New York; Ashmolean Museum, Oxfors; Bibliotheque National, Paris; Duthuit Collection, Petit Palais, Paris; Collection Edmond de Rothschild, Musee du Louvre, Paris; Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna. This etching shows the so-called Little Stink Mill on the De Passeerde bulwark at the southern extremity of the wall that ran down the west side of Amsterdam. Looking back along the wall in a northerly direction, Rembrandt would have seen the windmill on his right (this is reverse in the printing process), with cottages beyond it, all standing just within the earthen city wall that encloses the bulwark. In the distance two figures stand on the next bulwark to the north, where stood another, larger windmill, known as the Large Stink Mill. Both were tower mills owned by the leathermakerÕs Guild and were active softening tanned leather by treading it the cod liver oil - hence the names attached to them. The windmill is depicted in great detail. The tower mill type allowed the cap and sails to turn independently of the main body, a more efficient method of keeping the sails to the wind than the traditional post mill, the whole structure f which rotated. Rembrandt described the wooden platform around the body of the windmill and the three long tailpoles attached to the cap. The latter converge near the wheel that helps keep the mill turned to the wind. The rope descending from the horizontal post behind the cap operated a brake on the millÕs main axis. Below the cap, the main body of the structure would have been made of brick with a wooden cladding, into which the doors were set. These could be reached only by ladders, and Rembrandt has included a figure with a sack over his shoulder about to mount one of these. The Sails of the mill are furled and in fact dace away from the prevailing westerly winds. The exceptionally detailed description suggests that Rembrandt worked on the plate on site. The nearby cottage s represented with equal exactitude. RembrandtÕs Plein-air drawings, including the drawing he made of the same windmill, but seen from the north are normally far less precise, and would not have supplied sufficient visual information to produce the print. The etching also prompts us to ask why he should choose to focus on the windmill and why of all the mills in Amsterdam, Rembrandt chose to represent the Little Stink Mill, one of the least prepossessing and which stood almost as far from his home in the Breestraat as it was possible for him to travel without leaving the city? His Choice of motif is certainly idiosyncratic, and perhaps the traditional view of Rembrandt as a rebel against ideal beauty is nearer the mark than is sometimes currently allowed. 'The Windmill' is one of two landscape etchings date 1641 in which Rembrandt employed his mysterious granular bitten tone to evoke a misty grey atmosphere. Brushy marks are visible in the sky as well as crackle patterns resulting from the cracking if the etching ground or perhaps of the layer of corrosive paste that Rembrandt may have applied to the plate in order to achieve this fine etched tone. As he did with other etchings, Rembrandt carefully burnished away the grey bitten tone in certain areas, such as the diagonal struts of the mill, in order to create bright highlights.

Bartsch 233; hind 179; Biorklund-Barnard 41-C; Usticke 233

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