FERDINAND BOL (1616-1680)

On 3 December 2014 in London, Christie's offered an impression (lot 76) of this etching which had previously belonged to Paul Davidsohn (Lugt 654). In Boerner's catalogue of the Davidsohn sale of 1920, the print was described as 'a wonderful impression of an undescribed first state, before additional hatching to the right and left of the head' ('Wundervoller Abdruck eines unbeschriebenen ersten Zustandes, vor neuen Schraffuren rechts und links am Kopf.'). Based on this description, it was subsequently recorded in Hollstein as the only known impression of the first state of two. A direct comparison with a fine impression of the so-called second state in the British Museum however revealed no difference. It seems that Boerner was mistaken and that there is in fact only one state of this etching.