Etching and drypoint, 1642. 114x143 mm; 4 1/2x5 3/4 inches, small margins. Biörklund's fifth state (of 5); Usticke's fifth state (of 5); New Hollstein's fourth state (of 4). Partial Strasburg Lily watermark (Ash/Fletcher 36). A very good, well-inked impression of this scarce etching with strong contrasts.
According to Usticke, "A scarce plate (R+)."
The figure of the lascivious male flute player, a popular folk-tale character from the early 16th century onward, was well-known to Dutch art connoisseurs in Rembrandt's time as the Eulenspiegel (or Owl-glass), and Rembrandt has conspicuously placed a tame owl on the shepherd's shoulder in this etching to further the point. The Eulenspiegel was known to be a wily, shifty character, whom Rembrandt has represented here with a flute suggestively directed at the seated shepherdess while he steals a glance beneath the hem of her dress.
Provenance: Unknown collector, ink stamp verso (Lugt 4786). Bartsch 188; Biörklund 32-D; Hollstein (White and Boon) 188; New Hollstein 211.
