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Lot 60
REMBRANDT HARMENSZ. VAN RIJN (1606-1669)
A Peasant calling out: ‘Tis vinnich kout'; & A Peasant replying: ‘Dats Niet’
Closed7 December 2023
Price Realised
GBP 40,320
More Information
Specialist note
This whimsical and charming couple of etchings is the only true pair of pendants in Rembrandt’s oeuvre. They are also the only prints with any text etched on the plates, apart from the artist’s signature and dates.
The two men, each taking up most of their narrow plate, are depicted standing outdoors, dressed in patched-up rags. For symmetry and to create a sense of depth, Rembrandt has added a small figure to the background of each plate. The first man, slightly hunched over and with a grumpy expression exclaims Tis vinnich kout (‘It’s bitter cold’); the second, with his hands folded leisurely behind his back and smiling, answers Dats’ niet (‘That’s nothing’).
It is a jokey exchange of the kind that strangers have and laugh about in the street. The scene is beautifully observed and has a distinctly ‘Dutch’ feel about it – and yet it is not Rembrandt’s invention. A pair of prints by the German engraver Hans Sebald Beham (1500-1550), known as the ‘Weather Peasants’ (Hollstein 189 & 190), show very much the same repartee, with one saying ‘The weather is cold’ and the other replying ‘It does no harm’ in German. It is very likely that Rembrandt, himself a keen collector of prints, would have known and perhaps even owned a pair of Beham’s tiny engravings. He even adopted some details, such as hands clasped behind the back and the purse at the side for the man standing on the right, from Beham.
Interestingly, as Nicholas Stogdon mentions, the set in the Lugt Collection is printed and preserved on one sheet of paper, but with the two men facing each other. Their position seems more natural, but is against the sequence of the dialogue. It seems that when etching the two plates Rembrandt got confused with the direction of the images on the plates, and thus ended up with the figures standing back to back.
The very fine and uniform present set comes from two so far unidentified 18th century collections. The tiny round punch mark is occasionally found on 17th century Dutch drawings and some prints by Rembrandt, usually very fine examples.
The two men, each taking up most of their narrow plate, are depicted standing outdoors, dressed in patched-up rags. For symmetry and to create a sense of depth, Rembrandt has added a small figure to the background of each plate. The first man, slightly hunched over and with a grumpy expression exclaims Tis vinnich kout (‘It’s bitter cold’); the second, with his hands folded leisurely behind his back and smiling, answers Dats’ niet (‘That’s nothing’).
It is a jokey exchange of the kind that strangers have and laugh about in the street. The scene is beautifully observed and has a distinctly ‘Dutch’ feel about it – and yet it is not Rembrandt’s invention. A pair of prints by the German engraver Hans Sebald Beham (1500-1550), known as the ‘Weather Peasants’ (Hollstein 189 & 190), show very much the same repartee, with one saying ‘The weather is cold’ and the other replying ‘It does no harm’ in German. It is very likely that Rembrandt, himself a keen collector of prints, would have known and perhaps even owned a pair of Beham’s tiny engravings. He even adopted some details, such as hands clasped behind the back and the purse at the side for the man standing on the right, from Beham.
Interestingly, as Nicholas Stogdon mentions, the set in the Lugt Collection is printed and preserved on one sheet of paper, but with the two men facing each other. Their position seems more natural, but is against the sequence of the dialogue. It seems that when etching the two plates Rembrandt got confused with the direction of the images on the plates, and thus ended up with the figures standing back to back.
The very fine and uniform present set comes from two so far unidentified 18th century collections. The tiny round punch mark is occasionally found on 17th century Dutch drawings and some prints by Rembrandt, usually very fine examples.