Portrait of a Boy

Unidentified by the earliest cataloguers of Rembrandt's prints, the youthful subject of this print was until recently thought to be Prince William II of Orange, at the age of 15 or 16, who succeeded his father as Stathouder of Holland in 1647, but died in 1650 at the age of 24. The boy depicted here seems a bit too young to be the Prince, although his elegant attire certainly suggests high social status. The estate inventory of the print dealer Clement de Jonghe (see lot 69 for his portrait), dated 1679, might provide a clue. During Rembrandt's financial troubles, de Jonghe had acquired 74 of Rembrandt's printing plates, and the inventory lists as number 24 schipr. Gerbrants soontjen ('shipmaster Gerbrant's little son'). Child portraits are rare in Rembrandt's oeuvre - aside from paintings and drawings of his son Titus he made are only seven true portraits of children - and this is the only one in the print medium. It is therefore very likely that the very brief description in the inventory relates to this etching, as the word 'soontjen' unequivocally refers to a child. (See: Hinterding, 2008, no. 227, p. 552; and Stogdon, 2011, p. 338.)
The plate is remarkable not just for the sensitivity with which the boy's face is depicted but for the pronounced craquelure and grainy tone of the plate. Stogdon attributed these textures, which are nowhere as prominent as in the present print and the famous Windmill (B. 233; New Holl. 200), to 'poor preparation' of the plate. Even if they were accidental, it seems that Rembrandt did not mind these effects, for he printed the little portrait in considerable numbers and made no attempt to burnish out the grainy background tone. In fact the craquelure - caused by cracks in the etching ground - is reminiscent of a little painted miniature, which only adds to the print's appeal.