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Lot Essay
This beautiful study of a male nude, offered here in a very fine example on an unusually sturdy but undoubtedly early sheet, offers a fascinating insight into Rembrandt’s studio practice around 1646.
A lean young man with shoulder-length hair is seated on a cushion - presumably on a stool which Rembrandt has omitted from the etching – in front of a large drapery. He is scantily dressed a loin cloth, his hand are folded between his legs. His face, with a relaxed smile, is turned slightly to the left. His large feet, one tucked under his seat, the other slightly extended to the front, rest on the makeshift pedestal on which he has been placed. Several drawings of the same young man exist, both by Rembrandt and his pupils, in different poses, and Rembrandt himself made two other etchings featuring the same model. A black chalk drawing by Rembrandt (Benesch 711; Musée Bonnat, Bayonne) shows him in a slightly different angle and position, seated on a stool with a cushion, his hands resting on his thighs. There are three drawings by pupils, including one by Samuel van Hoogstraaten (Benesch A55; Musée du Louvre), of him standing, leaning on a column against a wall with his left arm resting on a pillow. These sketches, one of which is retouched by Rembrandt’s hand, are closely related to his own etching Male Nude, seated and standing ('Het Rolwagentje') (NH 233), in which we see the same man twice. A third etching by Rembrandt depicts the same boy in yet another position: Nude Man seated on the Ground with one Leg extended (see lot 67).
These three etchings and the drawings by himself and others are clearly the results of life drawing sessions, and we do know that Rembrandt was holding such classes for his pupils at his house on Sint Anthoniesbreestraat. The pupils and their master were seated in a semi-circle around the model and the various sketches even allow us to reconstruct where each draftsman was placed in relation to the model and each other. During the lessons, Rembrandt occasionally corrected his students’ drawings, while he himself appears to have drawn his own versions, at least on a few occasions, directly onto an etching plate, including the present one. (See Bevers, 1991, p. 224-226; and Hinterding, 2000, p. 213-217.)
It has been speculated whether the young man posing may have been a pupil himself, although the sheer number of studies of him, and the fact that no other person appears in nude studies around this time, suggest that he was a hired as a model. Twelve years later, Rembrandt seems to have a employed somebody else, this time a woman, to pose in the nude. The result were the four late, great etchings of the same unknown woman, including Woman sitting half-dressed beside a Stove (see lot 68).
A lean young man with shoulder-length hair is seated on a cushion - presumably on a stool which Rembrandt has omitted from the etching – in front of a large drapery. He is scantily dressed a loin cloth, his hand are folded between his legs. His face, with a relaxed smile, is turned slightly to the left. His large feet, one tucked under his seat, the other slightly extended to the front, rest on the makeshift pedestal on which he has been placed. Several drawings of the same young man exist, both by Rembrandt and his pupils, in different poses, and Rembrandt himself made two other etchings featuring the same model. A black chalk drawing by Rembrandt (Benesch 711; Musée Bonnat, Bayonne) shows him in a slightly different angle and position, seated on a stool with a cushion, his hands resting on his thighs. There are three drawings by pupils, including one by Samuel van Hoogstraaten (Benesch A55; Musée du Louvre), of him standing, leaning on a column against a wall with his left arm resting on a pillow. These sketches, one of which is retouched by Rembrandt’s hand, are closely related to his own etching Male Nude, seated and standing ('Het Rolwagentje') (NH 233), in which we see the same man twice. A third etching by Rembrandt depicts the same boy in yet another position: Nude Man seated on the Ground with one Leg extended (see lot 67).
These three etchings and the drawings by himself and others are clearly the results of life drawing sessions, and we do know that Rembrandt was holding such classes for his pupils at his house on Sint Anthoniesbreestraat. The pupils and their master were seated in a semi-circle around the model and the various sketches even allow us to reconstruct where each draftsman was placed in relation to the model and each other. During the lessons, Rembrandt occasionally corrected his students’ drawings, while he himself appears to have drawn his own versions, at least on a few occasions, directly onto an etching plate, including the present one. (See Bevers, 1991, p. 224-226; and Hinterding, 2000, p. 213-217.)
It has been speculated whether the young man posing may have been a pupil himself, although the sheer number of studies of him, and the fact that no other person appears in nude studies around this time, suggest that he was a hired as a model. Twelve years later, Rembrandt seems to have a employed somebody else, this time a woman, to pose in the nude. The result were the four late, great etchings of the same unknown woman, including Woman sitting half-dressed beside a Stove (see lot 68).