FERDINAND BOL Portrait of an Officer (Self-Portrait).
Etching and drypoint, 1645. 138x111 mm; 51/2x43/8 inches, small margins. Second state (of 2). Coat-of-arms watermark. A superb, early impression of this scarce print with traces of burr.
A native of Dordrecht, Bol (1616-1680) was a student of Rembrandt's in Amsterdam during the 1630s. He rose quickly through the studio ranks and by 1640, when he is listed as a witness in a court document concerning Rembrandt's wife Saskia's inheritance, he had become a close assistant. He established himself as an independent master at Amsterdam in 1642. Bol developed a style so similar to Rembrandt's that many of his works were mistaken for Rembrandt's centuries later. Note for instance the close similarities between this portrait and Rembrandt's in lot 2 (see also lots 36 and 94). Bartsch 11; Hollstein 12.
