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Lot Essay
This sheet comes with provenances which stand for the highest quality: Francis Seymour Haden, Paul Davidsohn and Felix Somary are amongst its previous owners, all collectors of the greatest discernment and exacting taste. The colour and texture of the paper and the pronounced plate tone imbue the scene with a warm and gentle atmosphere, reminiscent of a southern late afternoon, while the dark accents of burr enliven the image by drawing the eye into and across the image.
The print depicts the moment the long-tested Abraham is hosting three strangers who reveal themselves as two angels and the Lord Himself, and is given the news that his wife Sarah would bear him a son within a year. As the devout Abraham serves his divine guests and bows humbly, Sarah listens in from behind the door and smiles in disbelief. God is clearly distinguished from the two angels, who themselves are friendly, yet rather pedestrian looking individuals, a far cry from the angelic stereotype. The composition of the figures seated in a semi-circle on the ground in front of a food platter is based on a Mughal miniature, which Rembrandt knew and copied in a drawing dated around the same time as the present print. The original miniature itself has also survived and is kept at the Albertina in Vienna. Remarkably, the plate is also in existence and was rediscovered at Christie's in 1997 on the back of an oil painting by the Flemish artist Pieter Gysels (1620-91), who must have acquired it as a painting support around the time of Rembrandt's bankruptcy. Unlike other surviving plates, it was thus never reworked and reprinted, and has remained unchanged since the time Rembrandt etched it. It is now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
The print depicts the moment the long-tested Abraham is hosting three strangers who reveal themselves as two angels and the Lord Himself, and is given the news that his wife Sarah would bear him a son within a year. As the devout Abraham serves his divine guests and bows humbly, Sarah listens in from behind the door and smiles in disbelief. God is clearly distinguished from the two angels, who themselves are friendly, yet rather pedestrian looking individuals, a far cry from the angelic stereotype. The composition of the figures seated in a semi-circle on the ground in front of a food platter is based on a Mughal miniature, which Rembrandt knew and copied in a drawing dated around the same time as the present print. The original miniature itself has also survived and is kept at the Albertina in Vienna. Remarkably, the plate is also in existence and was rediscovered at Christie's in 1997 on the back of an oil painting by the Flemish artist Pieter Gysels (1620-91), who must have acquired it as a painting support around the time of Rembrandt's bankruptcy. Unlike other surviving plates, it was thus never reworked and reprinted, and has remained unchanged since the time Rembrandt etched it. It is now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.