REMBRANDT VAN RIJN The Star of Kings: A Night Piece.
Etching and drypoint, circa 1651. 94x141 mm; 3 3/4x5 5/8 inches, narrow margins. Biörklund's first state (of 2); Usticke's first state (e) (of 7), with strong burr on the star and on the column to the left of the star and before the heavy horizontal shading lines on the face of the woman at the center; New Hollstein's first state (of 4). The lower part (three balls) of a foolscap watermark (Ash/Fletcher 19 and 20, they cite another impression of this subject with a fragment of a foolscap watermark in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; Hinterding also notes multiple first state impressions of this subject printed on paper with either a five-pointed or seven-pointed foolscap watermark). A brilliant, early impression of this densely etched nocturne print, with all the details distinct and with no sign of wear.
Provenance: Unidentified collector, initial M ink stamp (Lugt 1842, verso; he notes that the collector is likely an early 18th century Dutch artist / collector, as the mark appears on numerous drawings and early etchings by Rembrandt); unidentified collector, small coat-of-arms with a crown ink stamp verso (not in Lugt); and Friedrich Andreas Lieberg, Buenos Aires, with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 1681ter) Bartsch 113; Biörklund 51-I; Hollstein (White and Boon) 113; New Hollstein 263.
