ABRAHAM FRANCEN, APOTHECARY. REMBRANDT VAN RIJN (1606 - 1669) Abraham Francen, Apothecary.
Etching, circa 1657. 157x207 mm; 6¼x8⅝ inches, thread margins. Biörklund's ninth state (of 10), however with the slipped stroke on the left cheek from the eighth state still distinct; Usticke's seventh state (of 9); White and Boon's ninth state (of 10). Bartsch 273; Biörklund 57-2; Hollstein (White and Boon) 273; New Hollstein 301.
Francen (1612-after 1678) was a close friend of Rembrandt (1606-1669) and a lifelong resident of Amsterdam (though records of the various addresses in the city where he lived indicate that he was not a particularly well-to-do collector). He was a passionate connoisseur of art, which Rembrandt alludes to with the Crucifixion triptych and the landscape painting on the wall of Francen's study, as well as the Taoist sculpture on the table, and in this collecting eclecticism he and Rembrandt surely had a kinship.
Francen testified for Rembrandt and helped support him through his financial difficulties in the 1650s and 1660s; he also acted as a sort of guardian for Rembrandt's only child (of four) to survive into adulthood, Titus (1641-1668). Rembrandt likely made this etched portrait of Francen out of friendship rather than as a paid commission.
