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Estimate: $ 12,000 - $ 18,000
REMBRANDT VAN RIJN The Goldsmith.
Etching and drypoint, 1655. 80x58 mm; 3 1/8x2 1/4 inches, thread margins. Biörklund's first state (of 2); Usticke's first state (of 3); White and Boon's first state (of 3). A brilliant, dark and richly-inked impression, with strong contrasts and with all the delicate details distinct, with traces of burr and with no sign of wear, consistent with the earliest impressions of this subject.
This representation of a goldsmith, or perhaps a sculptor as art historians have more recently asserted, shows an artist with his finished creation--a statue personifying Charity--hammering it down to a scrolled pedestal. Scholars have noted that the artist's expression is thoughtful, almost distractedly sorrowful, as if "pondering the fact that he will soon have to part with his creation," (Rembrandt the Printmaker, London, 2000, page 325).
Created during the last decade of his life, just past his 50th birthday, Rembrandt's Goldsmith might also have autobiographical connotations, revealing the artist's own inner-dialogue with having to relinquish his creations at the end of his career. Bartsch 123; Biörklund 55-D; Hollstein (White and Boon) 123.
