?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 15,000 - $ 20,000
REMBRANDT VAN RIJN The Boat House.
Etching, 1645. 127x133 mm; 5x5 3/8 inches, narrow margins. Biörklund's second state (of 3); Usticke's second state (of 3); White and Boon's second state (of 3). Partial foolscap watermark, the lower portion with three balls. Ex-collection Rudolf Dietz (Lugt 2197, verso); August Vasel (Lugt 191, verso); and unknown collector, indiscernible ink stamp verso. A very good impression of this extremely scarce etching, with crisp, partially-inky plate edges and warm plate tone.
According to Usticke, "a very rare plate" (RRR). We have found only approximately 15-20 other impressions at auction in the past 30 years.
This subject, one of several landscape etchings that Rembrandt concentrated on during 1645 (along with the famous Three Trees and Six's Bridge), is among his most enigmatic and sketch-like plates in this genre. The earliest impressions from this plate, in which the boat in the grotto-like cave is clearly defined with dark shading, are extremely scarce and rarely appear on the market. Subsequently, as in this impression, the shading on the grotto and boat was burnished down and prints much lighter and less defined. In later impressions, which are most frequent, this shading has been heavily and crudely retouched by another artist attempting to restore Rembrandt's original intent. Bartsch 231; Biörklund 45-C; Hollstein (White and Boon) 231.
