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Lot Essay
This rare counterproof of Abraham’s Sacrifice is an excellent and very attractive specimen of the process, and one of an important and very desirable subject. Counterproofs are created by placing a freshly printed impression, with the ink still wet, onto another sheet and putting it through the press once more. The image is thereby transferred to the second sheet, but in reverse. Through the double-transfer – from plate to print to counterproof – the image of the counterproof is in the same direction as on the plate. This reversal allowed to explore and test some changes the artist might want to make to the plate in a subsequent state, for example by drawing onto the counterproof. Some counterproofs with additions in pen and ink by Rembrandt are known. These clearly served as intermediate working proofs, used to further develop and improve the composition of the respective plate. However, by far not all of Rembrandt’s counterproofs are manipulated in this way, including this example, which suggests that they were made for another purpose. It is likely that these counterproofs were produced as a finished print in their own right, to satisfy a specialised collector’s market hungry for such variants and oddities, with the particular appeal of the counterproof being a mirror image of the etching itself. It was therefore worth having both, as is indeed the case in the Josefowitz collection.
The present sheet is remarkably strong and clear for a counterproof, which tends to be weaker than a direct impression from the plate. It has even picked up some burr in paces, so it must have been taken from a rich, early impression.
The reversal of the orientation is interesting and worth comparing with the primary version, as it changes our perception of the scene. Here, the focus is on Abraham’s right hand with the dagger, and the Angel’s hand holding back his arm, rather than Abraham’s left hand covering his son’s eyes. The Angel appears less prominent, and our attention seems directed more towards the imminent bloodshed than the last-minute rescue. The viewer’s gaze is also directed towards the steep ravine, down from Mount Moriah. The precipitous landscape on the one hand lends the scene a heightened sense of menace and drama, while the view onto the resting companions and the travellers on the road are reminiscent of depictions of the Agony in the Garden (see lot 23). This is perhaps a wilful association, as the sacrifice of Isaac has been interpreted as an Old Testament foreshadowing of the sacrifice of Christ, and both as a test of obedience to the Lord.
Another counterproof of Abraham’s Sacrifice, with similar amounts of burr but printing less sharply, is in the British Museum (inv. no. 1843,0513.241), which also holds a drawing by Rembrandt of the same subject. The drawing, in black and red chalk with grey wash has been dated to the mid-1630s (inv. no. 1897,1117.5) It shows a slightly later moment of the event, as the Angel holds back Abraham’s hand, and he let’s go of the knife. The youth’s position is also different, kneeling, but with his torso and head pulled back, but the two compositions are clearly related. About twenty years lie between the drawing and the print, and it is intriguing to think whether Rembrandt, after all this time, went back to his initial sketch when he set out to make the etching.
The present sheet is remarkably strong and clear for a counterproof, which tends to be weaker than a direct impression from the plate. It has even picked up some burr in paces, so it must have been taken from a rich, early impression.
The reversal of the orientation is interesting and worth comparing with the primary version, as it changes our perception of the scene. Here, the focus is on Abraham’s right hand with the dagger, and the Angel’s hand holding back his arm, rather than Abraham’s left hand covering his son’s eyes. The Angel appears less prominent, and our attention seems directed more towards the imminent bloodshed than the last-minute rescue. The viewer’s gaze is also directed towards the steep ravine, down from Mount Moriah. The precipitous landscape on the one hand lends the scene a heightened sense of menace and drama, while the view onto the resting companions and the travellers on the road are reminiscent of depictions of the Agony in the Garden (see lot 23). This is perhaps a wilful association, as the sacrifice of Isaac has been interpreted as an Old Testament foreshadowing of the sacrifice of Christ, and both as a test of obedience to the Lord.
Another counterproof of Abraham’s Sacrifice, with similar amounts of burr but printing less sharply, is in the British Museum (inv. no. 1843,0513.241), which also holds a drawing by Rembrandt of the same subject. The drawing, in black and red chalk with grey wash has been dated to the mid-1630s (inv. no. 1897,1117.5) It shows a slightly later moment of the event, as the Angel holds back Abraham’s hand, and he let’s go of the knife. The youth’s position is also different, kneeling, but with his torso and head pulled back, but the two compositions are clearly related. About twenty years lie between the drawing and the print, and it is intriguing to think whether Rembrandt, after all this time, went back to his initial sketch when he set out to make the etching.