Etching and drypoint, 1656. 200x150 mm; 7 3/4x5 7/8 inches, thread margins. Biörklund's first state (of 3), before the window and the additional work in the background; Usticke's first state (of 6); White and Boon's first state (of 3). Ex-collection John Barnard (Lugt 1417, verso; this impression cited by Lugt, page 257, and sold at auction in London, April 16, 1798); and Robert Stayner Holford (Lugt 2243, verso). A superb, dark and early lifetime impression with burr on both of the sleeves, on the figurine in Lutma's right hand and throughout Lutma's pants and jacket, consistent with the earliest impressions of this subject.
We have located only 4 other first state impressions at auction in the past 25 years.
According to Luijten, "though Lutma (circa 1584-1669) was already an elderly man when he was portrayed by Rembrandt in this etching, he was probably still working as a silversmith. Yet despite the presence of a hammer and a pot containing punches, he is not working here but posing. He holds one of his creations--an object with a turned stem, possibly a candlestick--in his right hand, and beside him on the table is a chased silver drinking bowl," (Rembrandt the Printmaker, London, 2000, page 332). There is a similar silver bowl made by Lutma, circa 1641, now in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
There are approximately 34 extant impressions of the first state of this subject on both European and Japanese papers. At some point, Rembrandty reworked the plate considerably, adding the entire background.
This famous impression, once owned by the renowned English collector of Rembrandt etchings, John Barnard (whose ink initials are visible from the verso of the sheet through to the recto upper left), compares very closely in quality with the first state impression in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (RP-P-OB-550), on which there is also a mark ghosting through to the recto upper left. Bartsch 276; Biörklund 56-C; Hollstein (White and Boon) 276.
