Jean-Pierre Norblin de la Gourdaine (Misy-Fault-Yonne 1745-1830 Paris)

Norblin executed this copy after Rembrandt's celebrated picture, now at the Frick Collection, New York, while the painting was in Warsaw in the Polish Royal Collection. It had been purchased by King Stanislas II in 1793. Norblin, who stayed in Poland between 1774 and 1804, was a great admirer of Rembrandt's and he produced many etchings inspired by the great Dutch artist. However in the present work, and as the inscription along the lower edge suggests, he seems to be more interested in the subject of the painting which was at the time supposed to represent a Cossack at the service of King Wladislaw IV of Poland (1595-1648).