CIRCLE OF REMBRANDT HARMENSZ. VAN RIJN (Leiden 1606-1669 Amsterdam)

Benesch dated this rapidly drawn study to around 1636 and connected it with a group of small head studies (op. cit., 1973, nos. 327-336, figs. 396-406). More recently, Martin Royalton-Kisch has compared it to a drawing with multiple head studies dating the drawing to circa 1632-1635 (op. cit.). Another drawing of a man, previously in the Victor Koch collection, shows a man whose face is rendered in a rather strikingly similar way; his head is drawn with bold outlines, quick hatching and his nose and mouth are both rendered with expressive penwork also noticable in the present sheet (ibid., no. 362, fig. 437, not accepted as by Rembrandt by Royalton-Kisch and Peter Schatborn).

We are grateful to Peter Schatborn and Martin Royalton-Kisch for their assistance in cataloguing this drawing.