Description

Description: This arched etching and drypoint depicts the Gospel text (John 4.4-42) when Jesus converts a Gentile, the Samarian woman. It is signed and dated in the plate: “Rembrandt 1658”, but according to the latest scholarship (Rembrandt, The New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, 2013), this is a posthumous fourth state of the etching. Two lines have been added above the pupil of Christ’s left eye, the nose redrawn in one line and connected to his left eyebrow, the mouth strengthened, with the second signature and date on Christ’s robe burnished away, before extensive reworking, restoring the shadow on the wall above the well. It dates from some point in the 18th century, but predates the period (1791-c. 1809) when the plate belonged to Henri Louis Basan, whose Parisian workshop issued the fifth and final state of the etching.

Platemark measures: 5″ x 6 1/4″, an 1/8″ blank margin survives on all sides. Item #PR00614

Condition: Two tiny spots of soil just above and below date, 1/8″ tear in blank lower margin, otherwise very good.