JOHN SMITH OF CHICHESTER (AFTER REMBRANDT) The Second Oriental Head.
Etching, circa 1750. 148x125 mm; 6x5 inches, narrow margins. A superb, well-inked impression of this very scarce etching, with strong contrasts and no sign of wear.
Hinterding in the New Hollstein notes that this etching was made by the British printmaker John Smith of Chichester (1717-1764) after the same title etching by Rembrandt from circa 1635. Hinterding cites other impressions of this reverse copy by Smith in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; the Museum of Fine Art, Boston; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and the British Museum, London. Incidentally, Smith's reverse copy after Rembrandt, repeats the same representation as the original etching by Jan Lievens from circa 1630, on which Rembrandt also based his version.
This introspective portrait of an old man in exotic costume is an early work by Lievens (1607-1674) from a series of etched imaginary heads from around 1630-32. It was executed at the time when Lievens was working in close collaboration with Rembrandt (1606-1669) in Leiden and when the two young artist's mutually influenced each other's work. Lievens was inspired by Rembrandt's contemporary etched portraits of men in oriental dress when he created this bust of an aged man wearing an unusual fur cap bound by a strip of cloth. Rembrandt in turn etched copies of this subject and two others from a series in 1635 (Hollstein 286-88; New Hollstein 149-151). Rembrandt added the etched inscription to his copy of this Bust of an Oriental Man, Facing Right (The Second Oriental Head)--"Rembrandt geretuckert"--as in "retouched or improved by Rembrandt." See Hollstein 30 (Lievens); New Hollstein 150 (Rembrandt).
