REMBRANDT VAN RIJN The Adoration of the Shepherds: with the Lamp.
Etching, circa 1654. 103x129 mm; 4 1/8x5 1/8 inches, thread margins. Biörklund's first state (of 2), with the curved blank space in the cross-hatching upper right; Usticke's first state (e-i) (of 3), with traces of burr lower left; White and Boon's first state (of 2). A superb, richly-inked, early impression with strong contrasts and no sign of wear, with burr in the lower corners and partially inky plate edges, consistent with the earliest impressions of this subject.
One of six etchings by Rembrandt, all in a similar horizontal format, from around 1654, that he may have intended as a series to illustrate scenes from Christ's childhood (Bartsch 45, 47, 55, 63, 64 and 60, see also lots 152, 153, 154, and 155). Bartsch 45; Biörklund 54-1; Hollstein (White and Boon) 45.
