REMBRANDT VAN RIJN The Return of the Prodigal Son.
Etching and drypoint, 1636. 158x136 mm; 6 1/4x5 3/8 inches, thread margins. Usticke's first state (of 4), with the toe of the boot at the far right still printing. Ex-collection Nicolas Vassiliévitch Basnine (Lugt 1960, verso); Albert van Loock (Lugt 3751, verso); and R. Goldberg, ink stamp verso (not in Lugt). A superb, dark and evenly-printed impression, wth very strong contrasts and little to no wear in the densely cross-hatched areas to the right of the son's nose, and with the faint landscape and buildings in the left background manifest, characteristic of the earliest impressions of this etching. Bartsch 91; Biörklund 36-D; Hollstein (White and Boon) 91.
