Live Auction 7644Old Master Prints
Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn
Lot 36

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn

Nude Man seated before a Curtain (B., Holl. 193; H. 220)

Closed2 December 2008

Price Realised

GBP 7,250

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Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn
Nude Man seated before a Curtain (B., Holl. 193; H. 220)
etching, 1646, without watermark, a good impression of this rare print, first state (of two), before the additions to the shadows in the hair and beneath the left leg, with thread margins, trimmed to the platemark in places below and lower left, a short tear at the lower left edge, the paper rippled in places at the left sheet edge, two stains at the lower sheet corners due to remains of old tape hinges verso, otherwise in good condition, framed
P. 163 x 95 mm., S. 164 x 97 mm.

Fürst Karl Paar (1772-1819), Vienna (L. 2009)
H. Freiherr von und zu Aufsess (1801-1872), Aufsess and Nuremberg (L. 2749)
King Ferdinand of Portugal (1816-1885) (L. 968)
With Craddock & Barnard, London, December 1951 (according to an inscription on the backboard)

Specialist note

The year 1646 saw Rembrandt return to the human form and Nude seated before a Curtain forms part of a group of studies, which includes both drawings and etchings. Although the model is placed within a setting, the image has an academic feel to it and one can sense the artist's interest in understanding and translating the form before him. Probably executed during one of the life-drawing classes he organised for his pupils, it displays the ease with which he drew directly on the copper plate - only a few lines are added with the burin to strengthen some of the contrasts in the shadows and the contours of the face.