A scholar in his study (‘Faust’), copy

This is one of Rembrandt's most enigmatic etchings, which has been copied here by George Bickham the Younger (1704-71). It was originally mounted in the so-called King George IV album, purchased by the Dominion Museum in 1910. However, together with other Rembrandts (originals and copies alike), it was crudely removed by James McDonald, art assistant, photographer and sometime acting director, with its separate exhibition in mind. It has not been returned to the album.

 

The etching depicts a man, pen in hand, leaning on a table with a writing-slope, papers and books on it. These attributes and the astrolabe in the lower right corner suggest that he is a scholar. His gaze is fixed on an apparition, partly surrounded by clouds, which looms up in front of the leaded panes of the window. Not all the details of this apparition are visible, but the hands are clearly discernible. The left one holds a foreshortened mirror, while the right points to it. The form is further concealed by a circle of radiating light that encloses a series of letters. Only the 'INRI' in the centre of this circle can immediately be identified, as being the abbreviation of the inscription placed over Christ's head during the crucifixion.

 

The question as to who or what precisely is depicted here still exercises experts and scholars after more than 300 years, and the interpretations are varied. In Clement de Jonghe's inventory of 1679, the subject is concisely described as the 'Practising Alchemist', but in 1731 Valerius Roever referred to the print as 'Doctor Faustus', and it has been known by this title ever since. Early in the twentieth century, P. Leendertz believed that he was able to substantiate the validity of this traditional title. He pointed to the fact that a Dutch version of Christopher Marlowe's Tragical History of Doctor Faustus was staged in Amsterdam in about 1650, and argued that Rembrandt's etching represents the moment when a good angel, in the shape of a shimmering apparition, warns Faust not to enter into a pact with the devil. Others sought alternative solutions, and several later studies concentrated primarily on solving the riddle of the letters in the circle, which are - rightly - described as a Jewish mystical text, a cabalistic anagram. The most influential theory was that advanced by Henri Van de Waal, who interpreted the traditional title of the print in an unexpected way. He argued that the etching does not depict Faust, but that it is the portrait of the founder of the Socinian sect, Faustus Socinus; the apparition in the window supposedly represents Socinus's complex ideas.

An entirely different reading of the work, and one that certainly merits consideration, was suggested by Lyckle de Vries. Drawing to some extent on earlier studies, he describes the print as an allegory of faith, illustrating a text from the Bible. In Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, the apostle likens the limitations of human knowledge, as opposed to perfect, divine knowledge, to looking in a mirror at puzzling reflections - through a glass darkly (I Corinthians 13, v. 12). De Vries believes that the circle with Christ's monogram and the mysterious text symbolises the divine knowledge, which humans can see at best as if in a mirror, in other words indirectly and distorted, and even then cannot comprehend. In this interpretation, the cabalistic anagram has no function other than to be indecipherable. We thus see a scholar - a seeker after truth and representative of the faithful in general - who is being reminded by the apparition that human knowledge or wisdom is limited, and that it is only through Christ that we can partake of perfect knowledge in the hereafter. Rembrandt devoted considerable attention to the execution of the print, creating a contrast between the dense, closely hatched background and the sketchy foreground. The print is usually described as being in three states, although research by Erik Hinterding et al has established that there are two.

Its copyist here, George Bickham the Younger, is himself a figure of considerable significance in the 18th century British print world. He has been described as one of the most tlaented and enigmatic figures in the London print trade. You name it, he printed it - portraiture, didactic publications, political caricatures - in which he was a pioneer - pornography (which led to his prosecution) and copying Rembrandts. He opted for Rembrandt at his most spectacular and dramatic - his one other recorded copy was of Rembrandt's crucifixion etching, the so-called Three Crosses.

References: New Hollstein Dutch 270, copy a; Hollstein Dutch 270, copy 1

 

See: Erik Hinterding et al, Rembrandt, the Printmaker (London, 2000)

 

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art    September 2017