Details
REMBRANDT HARMENSZ. VAN RIJN (1606-1669)
A Cottage beside a Canal with a View of Ouderkerk
etching and drypoint
circa 1641
on laid paper, without watermark
a very good, atmospheric impression of this delicate landscape
the sulphur-tinting in the sky and on the roof printing prominently
trimmed to or just inside the platemark, to the subject in places
some tiny repairs at the edges
generally in good condition
Sheet 139 x 208 mm.
Provenance
With E. & R. Kistner, Nuremberg.
Private Collection, Switzerland; acquired from the above in 1990; then by descent to the present owners.
Literature
Bartsch, Hollstein 228; Hind 212; New Hollstein 202
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Lot Essay

Efforts have been made to identify the location of this view, and Diemen and Ouderkerk have been put forward as likely candidates. It may in fact be a capriccio, an amalgamation of the two. The print is essentially a study in how to represent a building close to the viewer, with a distant landscape beyond. This is a more successful attempt than the previous ones, where poor control of the biting process meant that there was little middle tone between deeply etched foreground and a very faint horizon. Here there is a careful, gradual recession, enhanced by the diagonal placement of the cottages that lead the eye to the distant view, rather than the frontal placement in the landscapes of 1641. The recession is accentuated by the meandering road leading directly away from the viewer. The skilful use of sulphur-tinting further serves to unite the whole, the near and the far, into a harmonious and evocative recreation of the countryside on a damp, overcast day. Some commentators have even speculated whether the scene is shown during a flurry of snow.

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