Etching, 1633. 166x142 mm; 6⅝x5⅝ inches. Biörklund's first state (of 2); Usticke's first state (of 3); New Hollstein first state (of 3). Seven Provinces watermark (Ash/Fletcher 34). Trimmed on the plate mark. A very good, well-inked, early impression with strong contrasts and with all the fine lines distinct. Bartsch 266; Biörklund 33-H; Hollstein (White and Boon) 266; New Hollstein 124.
This is Rembrandt's first etched portrait of the Amsterdam preacher and relative of his wife Saskia, Jan Cornelis Sylvius (he was also the godfather of the couple's first child). Rembrandt (1606-1669) made a second, posthumous portrait etching of Sylvius in 1646 (Bartsch 280).
