Etching and drypoint, 1641. 144x208 mm; 5 3/4x8 1/4 inches, small margins. Usticke's only state (e), with the cracks in the etching ground and sulphur tint in the sky still distinct. Ex-collection Charles Delanglade (Lugt 660, verso). A superb, evenly-printed and dark impression, with the sulphur tinting at the left and the craquelure in the sky, with strong contrasts and with all the details, including the distant landscape lower right dinstinct.
According to Hinterding, "The print shows the so-called Little Stink Mill on the De Passerde bulwark at the southern extremity of the wall that ran down the west side of Amsterdam. Looking back along the wall in a northerly direction, Rembrandt would have seen the windmill on his right (this is reversed in the printing process), with cottages beyond it, all standing just within the earthern city wall that encloses the bulwark. In the distance two figures stand on the next bulwark to the north, where stood another, larger windmill, known as the Large Stink Mill. Both were tower mills owned by the Leathermakers' Guild (of Amsterdam) and actively softened tanned leather by treating it with cod liver oil--hence the names attached to them," (Hinterding, Rembrandt the Printmaker, London, 2000, page 187). Bartsch 233; Biörklund 41-C; Hollstein (White and Boon) 233.
