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Overview
During his lifetime, Rembrandt's extraordinary skills as a printmaker were the main source of his international fame. Unlike his oil paintings, prints travelled light and were relatively cheap. For this reason, they soon became very popular with collectors not only within, but also beyond the borders of the Netherlands, and it also explains why, in later centuries they were affordable for Bishop Ditlev Monrad - who presented this print to the Colonial Museum in 1869 - and, more recently, Sir John Ilott. There are three copies of this etching in the collection: this one; one that was originally mounted in the so-called King George Album, which was purchased by the Dominion Museum in 1910 (1910-0001-1/59-80), which is a reverse copy; and one presented to the National Art Gallery by Ilott (1952-0003-55).
The composition of the famous Biblical scene, Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple (John 2:15), is based on a painting that Rembrandt made ten years earlier when he was only 19, which is now in the Pushkin Museum, Moscow. Its composition revolves around Christ's hand holding the whip in the centre of the picture. The raised hand is bathed in light, while Christ's face almost hidden in shadow. The figure is borrowed from Albrecht Düürer's woodcut of the same subject, in the Small Woodcut Passion series (c. 1508), although Rembrandt has reversed the pose. His prints from this period show a predominantly linear style, characterised by a vigorous calligraphic energy that reinforces the violent movement of the subject. The point of Rembrandt's etching-needle seems to weave the image from a continuous thread, with lines that loop sinuously back and forth like the thongs of Christ's whip, leading the viewer from one part of the scene to another.
This impression is the first of four states of the etching by Rembrandt, the only one where he exclusively worked on the plate. It was previously catalogued as second state.
References: New Hollstein Dutch 139, 1st of 4 states; Hollstein Dutch 69, 1st of 2 states
Dr Mark Stocker Curator, Historical International Art August 2017