拍品专文
The identity of the sitter for this small, rare etched portrait is not yet known. His attire and pose, with his arm resting on a balustrade, are reminiscent of the Self-Portrait leaning on a Stone Sill created three years earlier (see lot 10). Although the man's garments and the setting, with a row of books behind him, suggest some wealth and status, this portrait has none of the braggadocio of the self-portrait. With the lightly sketched surroundings, suggestive of a pillar overgrown with a blossoming climber, this print is much more romantic and pensive in mood.
Edmé-François Gersaint (1694-1750), Parisian dealer and the author of the first systematic catalogue of Rembrandt's etchings, published in 1751, listed this as the first of the ‘Portraits d’Hommes’, the genre he considered as Rembrandt’s most attractive and accomplished.
Edmé-François Gersaint (1694-1750), Parisian dealer and the author of the first systematic catalogue of Rembrandt's etchings, published in 1751, listed this as the first of the ‘Portraits d’Hommes’, the genre he considered as Rembrandt’s most attractive and accomplished.