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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, three centuries later, they were affordable for Sir John Ilott, who presented 37 Rembrandt prints to the National Art Gallery between 1952 and 1969.
In the years after 1630 Rembrandt drew a series of red chalk drawings of imposing old men. Some of these subjects were later used in paintings of biblical subjects or of meditating men. This series of drawings is connected with several etchings by Rembrandt, seven of which including this work are currently in Te Papa's collection. These are known as tronies, the Dutch word at the time for a face. Typically these are heads or busts only, concentrating on the facial expression, but often half-length when featured in an exotic costume. Tronies might be based on studies from life or use the features of actual sitters. Both paintings and prints of this kind were sold on the art market without identification of the sitter, and were not commissioned and retained by the sitter as portraits normally were. Rembrandt's tronies were among his most popular and widely imitated prints.
Works that compare well with this particular etching include a red chalk drawing in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, another in the Louvre, Paris, another in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, one in red and black chalk in Teylers Museum, Haarlem, and one in red and black chalk in the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin. (New Hollstein, vol. 1, p. 126)
This bust-length depiction of a contemplative elderly man shows him facing slightly towards the left; he wears a broad beard and a fur hat. Te Papa's print is from the second state of the plate, with the changes made by Rembrandt himself. It seems to be an early impression, corresponding to the New Hollstein catalogue, which notes that ‘Early impressions still show slightly rough plate edges, especially below'. The short horizontal strokes on the brim of the cap, added in this state, were probably made with a burin, so the print is best described as an etching with engraving.
References: New Hollstein Dutch 82, 2nd of 2 states; Hollstein Dutch 312, 2nd of 2 states.
See:
New Hollstein, Rembrandt 1 (Ouderkerk aan den IJssel, Netherlands, 2013).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tronie
Dr Mark Stocker Curator, Historical International Art August 2017