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拍品专文
Peter and John healing the Cripple at the Gate of the Temple is one of the last prints Rembrandt ever made. Both in style and composition it is a highly complex image, which is offered here in an exceptionally fine and early example of the second state; the first state is known in three impressions only, including a counterproof (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; and British Museum, London).
The subject is based on an episode from the Acts of the Apostles, which takes place at the entrance to the ‘Beautiful Temple' in Jerusalem. After the death and resurrection of Christ, His apparition to the Apostles and the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them at Pentecost, Peter performs his first miracle by healing a lame man who begged daily at the temple gate. One day, as the man asked Peter and John for alms, Peter spoke:
'Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.' And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ancle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. (Acts 3:6-9)
Remarkably, this scene is not just the subject of Rembrandt's final religious print, but also of one of his first. In 1629, he had already etched the miraculous healing in what remained a fascinating attempt, which Rembrandt however must have considered a technical failure, for only five impressions are known.
He did not, however, dismiss his original composition altogether, but returned to it thirty years later, 'when he once again etched the bald, gesticulating Peter, the cloaked figure of John and the seated beggar gazing up at them’ (Ger Luijten, in: Hinterding et al., 2000, p. 92).
In both versions, Rembrandt depicted the moment immediately preceding the miracle. The position of the two Apostles and the beggar, even Peter's gesture of opening his arms, as he speaks to the supplicant, are indeed remarkably similar. He only turned the figure of John to be seen in profile.
The subject was popular throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, and the architecture of the temple frequently played an important pictorial role, as in Dürer’s final plate of the Engraved Passion, Raphael’s Cartoon, an etching by Parmigianino, and others. The composition in Rembrandt's late version is more spacious and richer in the narrative and descriptive details of event. He added figures to the scene, such as the two onlookers at left observing the scene with much scepticism, as well as a highly detailed background. The abundance of narrative and architectural detail may be inspired by prints by and after Maarten van Heemskerck, Philips Galle and Jost Amman. As Charles Rosenberg argued, however, Rembrandt 'does not appear to have been interested in creating an archeologically precise representation of either the Solomonic or the Herodian Temple' (Rosenberg, 2017, p. 404). The main purpose of the background setting depicting the temple ritual is to emphasize the difference between the old and the new faith. 'The contrasts between the elaborate setting in which two of the high priests are officiating over the ceremonial sacrifice mandated by the Old Covenant and the simplicity of Peter’s miracle illustrates the contemporary Christian distinction [...] Rembrandt’s use of the archway to separate the old and the new visually reinforces this divide.' (ibid.)
This very fine sheet was previously in the collection of Ary Johannes Lamme, first director of the Museum Boijmans in Rotterdam (see also lot 60).
The subject is based on an episode from the Acts of the Apostles, which takes place at the entrance to the ‘Beautiful Temple' in Jerusalem. After the death and resurrection of Christ, His apparition to the Apostles and the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them at Pentecost, Peter performs his first miracle by healing a lame man who begged daily at the temple gate. One day, as the man asked Peter and John for alms, Peter spoke:
'Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.' And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ancle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. (Acts 3:6-9)
Remarkably, this scene is not just the subject of Rembrandt's final religious print, but also of one of his first. In 1629, he had already etched the miraculous healing in what remained a fascinating attempt, which Rembrandt however must have considered a technical failure, for only five impressions are known.
He did not, however, dismiss his original composition altogether, but returned to it thirty years later, 'when he once again etched the bald, gesticulating Peter, the cloaked figure of John and the seated beggar gazing up at them’ (Ger Luijten, in: Hinterding et al., 2000, p. 92).
In both versions, Rembrandt depicted the moment immediately preceding the miracle. The position of the two Apostles and the beggar, even Peter's gesture of opening his arms, as he speaks to the supplicant, are indeed remarkably similar. He only turned the figure of John to be seen in profile.
The subject was popular throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, and the architecture of the temple frequently played an important pictorial role, as in Dürer’s final plate of the Engraved Passion, Raphael’s Cartoon, an etching by Parmigianino, and others. The composition in Rembrandt's late version is more spacious and richer in the narrative and descriptive details of event. He added figures to the scene, such as the two onlookers at left observing the scene with much scepticism, as well as a highly detailed background. The abundance of narrative and architectural detail may be inspired by prints by and after Maarten van Heemskerck, Philips Galle and Jost Amman. As Charles Rosenberg argued, however, Rembrandt 'does not appear to have been interested in creating an archeologically precise representation of either the Solomonic or the Herodian Temple' (Rosenberg, 2017, p. 404). The main purpose of the background setting depicting the temple ritual is to emphasize the difference between the old and the new faith. 'The contrasts between the elaborate setting in which two of the high priests are officiating over the ceremonial sacrifice mandated by the Old Covenant and the simplicity of Peter’s miracle illustrates the contemporary Christian distinction [...] Rembrandt’s use of the archway to separate the old and the new visually reinforces this divide.' (ibid.)
This very fine sheet was previously in the collection of Ary Johannes Lamme, first director of the Museum Boijmans in Rotterdam (see also lot 60).