Circle of Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (Leiden 1606-1669 Amsterdam)

Otto Benesch has suggested that this swiftly drawn lion is a copy after an unknown Rembrandt drawing from 1650-1652 and he links it to two other copies of the subject after Rembrandt: one in the Kupferstichkabinett, Dresden and one from the collection of Sir Edmund Davies (op. cit., no. C 58). A further drawing with the same composition was sold in these Rooms, 26-27 March 1974, lot 219. Recently, Martin Royalton-Kish has suggested that the drawing might not be a copy, but an independent invention by an as yet unidentified Rembrandt pupil (written communication, May 2019). He furthermore notes that the date suggested by Benesch is plausible and that Rembrandt also seems to have made studies of lions at that time.
We are grateful to Peter Schatborn and Martin Royalton-Kisch for their assistance in cataloguing this drawing.