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Spaightwood Galleries
120 Main Street, Upton MA 01568-6193; 800-809-3343
Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606-1669)
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One of the greatest painters and printmakers of all time, Rembrandt's prints have been treasured since the seventeenth century, reprinted after his death, and reworked when they have become worn. Three of our impressions are posthumous impressions before reworking; the fourth, Young Harringh, was taken after the plate was trimmed in the late eighteenth century and some re-etching of light areas took place. Comparing our impressions to early impressions, one can see that the lines in the images are not as dark as they were originally, but they have not lost definition. The plates still print well (two of them very well) and Rembrandt's etching strokes are still clear.
Selected Bibliography on Rembrandt's etchings: Adam Bartsch, Le Peintre-Graveur (many volumes, many editions; an illustrated version of Bartsch is in progress, and when it is complete will become the new standard reference work for old master prints); K. G. Boon, Rembrandt: The Complete Etchings (NY: Abrams, 1963); Gary Schwartz, Rembrandt: All the etchings reproduced in true size (London: Oresko Books, 1977 (all of the works currently considered to be by Rembrandt illustrated in original size and identified by their Bartsch number); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Rembrandt: Experimental Etcher (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1969: excellent introduction to Rembrandt as an etcher), Holm Bevers and Barbara Welzel, Rembrandt: The Master & His Workshop. Etchings (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991: an excellent introduction ot the art and business of printing etchings in Rembrandt's studio published apart from the remainder of the 2-volume set on Rembrandt's paintings, drawings, and etchings published by Yale and the National Gallery of London), and G. W. Nowell-Usticke, Rembrandt's Etchings, States and Values (1967; rprinted NY: Hacker, 1988). See also Hans-Martin Rotermund, Rembrandts's Drawings and Etchings for the Bible, trans. Shierry M. Weber (Philadelphia: Pilgrim Press, 1969); Seymour Slive, Drawings of Rembrandt, 2 vols. (NY: Dover. 1965); Jeroen Giltaij, The Drawings by Rembrandt and his school in the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen (Rotterdam: Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, 1988); Walter Sumowski, Drawings of the Rembrandt School, 10 vols. (NY: Abaris Books, 1979-1992).
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Self-Portrait with his wife Saskia (Bartsch 19iii/iii, Boon 127). Original etching, 1636. Ours is a good impression on laid paper from an 18th-century Basan edition. Rembrandt had married Saskia van Uylenburgh two years earlier. He here presents himself in the act of drawing (or etching) with his young wife sitting and watching him work. Rembrandt made 22 self-portraits, but this is the only one that portrays him with anyone. Inscribed in the plate "Rembrandt f[ecit] / 1636" top left. The scratch on the back of his left hand is still visible when seen throgh a magnifier and there is still very good detail on the faces and the underside of Rembrandt's hat. The lines on his sleeve are still clear and distinct. Although the paper is a little whiter than it appears in this photograph, Rembrandt's face is close to perfect in tone. Traces of old glue top right verso; thread margins on all four sides. Image size: 110x93mm. Price: $8000.
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Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael away (Bartsch 30 only state, Boon 133). Original etching on laid paper, 1637. A very good impression with plate tone printed on thin laid paper with c. 1-inch margins outside the platemark. Signed and dated "Rembrandt f. 1637" in the plate upper right. According to Nowell-Usticke's description, our impression is closer to the "early" than the "intermediate" impressions. The plate shows a large range of contrasts and densities, with no signs of reworking (it was not included in the Basan reprint). The plate has been destroyed. The subject deals with the casting out of Hagar and Ishmael in Genesis 21: 9-15: "But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. So she said to Abraham, 'Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.' The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. But God said to Abraham, 'Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you. As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.' So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away." Image size: 124x97mm. Price: $9750.
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Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael away (Bartsch 30 only state, Boon 133). Original etching on laid paper, 1637. A very good impression with plate tone printed on thin laid paper with c. 1-inch margins outside the platemark. Signed and dated "Rembrandt f. 1637" in the plate upper right. According to Nowell-Usticke's description, our impression is closer to the "early" than the "intermediate" impressions. The plate shows a large range of contrasts and densities, with no signs of reworking (it was not included in the Basan reprint). The plate has been destroyed. The subject deals with the casting out of Hagar and Ishmael in Genesis 21: 9-15: "But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. So she said to Abraham, 'Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.' The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. But God said to Abraham, 'Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you. As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.' So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away." Image size: 124x97mm. Price: $9750.
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Three Oriental Figures / Jacob and Laban (Bartsch 118 ii/ii, Boon 174). Original etching, 1641. It has been suggested that the subject deals with the parting of Jacob and Laban in Genesis 30: 25-34. A very good impression (late 17th or 18th century) with plate tone printed on laid paper with small margins outside the platemark: the lines are sharp and there is detail in the dark areas. According to Nowell-Usticke, this etching is in the group that is still "strong" as of its appearance in "a very fine early Basan edition published between 1807 and 1808." Inscribed in reverse "Rembrandt f 1641" in the plate upper right. Image size: 143x111mm. Price: $8750.
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Genesis 30: 25-34: "And it came to pass, when Rachel had born Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country. Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go: for thou knowest my service which I have done thee. And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake. And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it. And he [Jacob] said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle was with me. For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it is now increased unto a multitude; and the LORD hath blessed thee since my coming: and now when shall I provide for mine own house also? And he [Laban] said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock. I will pass through all thy flock today, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire. So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me. And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word." Antonio refers to this story in his debate about "hazard[ing]" (i.e., adventuring, risking) versus the morality of taking interest on loans in The Merchant of Venice.
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Three Oriental Figures / Jacob and Laban (Bartsch 118ii/ii, Boon 174). Original etching, 1641. It has been suggested that the subject deals with the parting of Jacob and Laban in Genesis 30: 25-34. Ours is a good impression with some plate tone printed on laid paper with large margins outside the platemark. The lines are still sharp and there is detail in the dark areas. While it is not as good an impression as the one above, it is still quite a good impression. This impression was included in the first edition of Philip Hamerton's Etching and Etchers (London, 1868; it was not included in any of the later editions of his book). According to Hamerton, he searched for someone who owned one of Rembrandt's etching plates in good condition so that he could give new collectors the experience of seeing a real Rembrandt etching and of being able to study it over time. The goal of Etching and Etchers was to teach enough about etchings that the reader could become a more knowledgable buyer and a connoisseur of original etchings. Inscribed in reverse "Rembrandt f 1641" in the plate upper right. Image size: 143x111mm. Price: $6000.
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Joseph telling his dreams to his father and brothers (Bartsch 37, Boon 139). Original etching on laid paper with small margins, 1638. A very good impression with plate tone printed on laid paper with thread margins outside the platemark. Signed and dated "Rembrandt f. 1638" in the plate on the base of Isaac's chair. Joesph's father Isaac recoils and his brothers all clump together anticipating their decsion, soon following, to kill Joseph, quickly modified into selling him into slavery to merchants heading to Egypt. Our impression is from an early Basan printing. Image size: 110x83mm. Price: $8500.
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Genesis 31: 5-11: Once Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream that I dreamed. There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright; then your sheaves gathered around it, and bowed down to my sheaf.” His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Are you indeed to have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more because of his dreams and his words. He had another dream, and told it to his brothers, saying, “Look, I have had another dream: the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him, and said to him, “What kind of dream is this that you have had? Shall we indeed come, I and your mother and your brothers, and bow to the ground before you?” So his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
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Rest on the Flight into Egypt: A Night Piece (Bartsch 57, Boon 188, Hollstein 208 iii/iii; Bjorkland iv/iv, Usticke vi/viii). Original etching on laid paper with small margins, c. 1644. Fleeing from Herod's "bloody-hunting slaughtermen" (as Shakespeare put it in Henry V), the Holy Family pauses under a tree; the scene is lit only by a little light from a lantern hung from the tree. Joseph tenderly comforts Mary, who is busy tending her child. A good impression. Provenance: collector's stamp of Charles M. Lea verso. From the Philadelphia Museum of Art: "The Print Center's close association with the Philadelphia Museum of Art began in 1929 with the endowment of the Charles M. Lea purchase prize for prints to be donated to the Museum. In 1928 the Museum had already received as a memorial gift 4800 prints collected by Charles M. Lea and his father Henry C. Lea, an acquisition that formed the foundation of the Museum's print holdings." Our impression is part of that bequest and was deaccessioned several years ago to enable new acquisitions. Image size: 93x60mm. Price: $8500.
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The star of the Kings: A Night Piece (Bartsch 113, Boon 224, Hollstein 113, Bjorkland ii/ii, Usticke vi/vii). Original etching and drypoint on wove paper with large margins, c. 1651. The Magi, following their star to find the king whose birth they have read about in the stars, pause in a forest for a rest and a brief meal. A good dark impression. Image size: 93x142mm. Price: $5700.
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The Tribute Money (Bartsch 113, Boon 110, Hollstein 113, Bjorkland ii/ii, Usticke vi/vii). Original etching and drypoint on thin paper with thread margins, c. 1635. Jesus confronts the Pharisees in the Temple who are trying to incite him into refusing to pay taxes so they can turn him over to the Romans as a rebel against Rome. Jesus asks the priest to show him a coin, asks him whose face is stamped on the coin (Caesar's, of course), then bids them render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and unto God that which is God's, implying that they are rebels against God who have not been giving Him what he wants from them. A very good dark impression of the scene seemingly illuminated by the light emanating from Jesus. Image size: 73x103mm. Price: $7200.
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Young Haaringh (Bartsch 275, Boon 266, Hollstein 288 v/v; Usticke iv/v). Original etching with dry point & burin on laid paper with small to thread margins, 1655. "Young Haaringh" (sometimes identified as Jacob Thomasz., sometimes Peter) was a lawyer and the son of the Amsterdam official who supervised Rembrandt's bankruptcy sale in 1657 and 1658. He stares directly at the viewer, his face illuminated by light in a darkened room. A very good dark impression from one of the Basan editions (late 18th-early 19th century) after the plate was cut down. Provenance: P.A.F.A. (Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts), Philadelphia Museum of Art duplicate. Image size: 122x107mm. Price: SOLD.
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Spaightwood Galleries, Inc.
To purchase, call us at 1-800-809-3343 (508-529-2511 in Upton MA & vicinity) or send an email to sptwd@verizon.net. We accept AmericanExpress, DiscoverCard, MasterCard, and Visa.
For directions and visiting information, please call. We are, of course, always available over the web and by telephone (see above for contact information). Click the following for links to past shows and artists. For a visual tour of the gallery, please click here. For information about Andy Weiner and Sonja Hansard-Weiner, please click here. For a list of special offers currently available, see Specials.
Visiting hours: Saturday and Sunday noon to 6 pm and other times by arrangement.
Please call to confirm your visit. Browsers and guests are welcome.
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