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); New Hollstein second state (of 3). Ex-collection Princes of Oettingen-Wallerstein (Lugt 2715a, verso), their sale C. G. Boerner, Leipzig, May 28, 1935, lot 231. 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.
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.
