Black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash, 177 x 250 mm. Verso: An insignificant sketch of a head, pen and brown ink. Grey areas (traces of etching ground?). Framing lines along the left and top, and a thinner line at the bottom, pen and brown ink. Vertical fold on the right. Traced for transfer. Watermark: Coat of arms (close to Heawood 604: Holland 1627). Chain lines: 25 mm. Numbered in the lower right corner, in pen and brown ink, 2027 (Sparre), 119 (struck out) and 64 (struck out). Mark of the Royal Collection (Lugt 1638).

This scene is a preparatory drawing for the foreground on the extreme right of the large view of Amsterdam from the north, published by Visscher in 1611. The tracing is very sketchy, more like a preliminary sketch done with a metal point than a tracing. In spite of this, Visscher has followed the drawing quite closely. At the left side there is a thin line in brown ink, 14 mm from the margin. It cuts through the figure on the extreme left, which is sketched with less detail to the left of the line.

The panorama is etched on four plates. The second and third of them, forming the central part, are the reworked engraving in two plates by Pieter Bast from 1599, to which Visscher added a plate on each side. The present drawing corresponds, in reverse, to the fourth plate. It is exactly the width of the plate (251 mm). The pen line drawn through the figure on the left seems to indicate that a slightly narrower plate was considered. The staff with a rope and the stern of a small vessel drawn at the right edge of the drawing are at the left edge of the plate, and are continued from the adjoining plate. The view of the city is only indicated by a faint chalk line a few centimetres above the heads of the figures. [Magnusson, Dutch Drawings no. 461]

Black and white chalk, 188 x 145 mm. All corners cut except the one at the upper right. Watermark: Horn, close to Haewood 2626. Chain lines: 23–24 mm. Numbered in the lower right corner, in pen and brown ink, 2, and on the mount, in pen and brown ink, 1681 (Sparre). Mark of the Royal Collection (Lugt 1638).

Meder first connected this drawing with Bartholomeus van der Helst’s portrait of Paulus Potter in the Mauritshuis, The Hague, dated 1654. The pose is similar but not identical, the model is wrapped in a cloak, and there is no chair, easel or palette. Rather than posing in his studio, he gives the impression of a traveller. Broos has interpreted the drawing as a self-portrait by Potter. In support of this view, he argues that there are no drawings by Van der Helst, and that the virtuoso handling of the chalk points to Potter. He compares it to the “acknowledged masterpieces” like Deer in a Wood. The painting would then be a posthumous portrait based on the drawing. This reasoning is inconclusive at best. There are no portraits by Potter, while there might in fact be other portrait drawings by Van der Helst (cf. entry no. 180).

A red chalk copy in a private French collection was considered by Parker and Mathey to be a copy by Watteau, made when the drawing was in Crozat’s collection. That attribution has been rejected by Rosenberg and Prat. [Magnusson, Dutch Drawings no. 179]

Pen and brown (iron gall) ink, brown, blue and grey wash, watercolour, over traces of graphite, 364 x 279 mm. Sheet pasted on a secondary support. Framing lines, partially, in black ink. Sheet soiled. All four corners slightly damaged by abrasion. Watermark: Not visible. Chain lines: Vertical, 25–27 mm apart. Numbered in pencil on the verso of the mount, 293. Annotated in pen and brown ink on the verso of the mount, View in Norway.

The present drawing, which has remained unpublished, comes from the renowned collection formed by British scholar Paul Oppé (1878–1957), which consisted mainly of landscape watercolours, including those of J. M. W. Turner. Haverkamp-Begemann has confirmed the attribution of the drawing to Lambert Doomer (1624–1700), one of the most important and characteristic of Dutch topographical draughtsmen, yet one whose drawings surpass those of his contemporaries in their special quality of atmosphere and their pictorial and Romantic treatment of subject matter.
The Stockholm Alpine Landscape belongs to a group of some eight known copies made by Doomer after Roelant Savery’s (1575–1639) famous “Tyrolean” landscape drawings of c. 1602/09, with closely related examples in Berlin and Paris. In 1931 Lugt recognized the Berlin drawings, including a sheet now in Paris (Institut Néerlandais, Fondation Custodia), as copies by Doomer after Savery. The 1656 inventory of Rembrandt’s estate lists a large album of “Tyrolean” landscapes by Savery drawn “from life”, which was probably the set – since dispersed – purchased by Doomer at the auction of his friend’s “graphic art works” in December 1658. This was later allegedly sold by Doomer (see below), in whole or in part, to the collector Laurens van der Hem, who pasted Savery’s drawings into volumes of the new edition (1662) of Joan Blaeu’s Atlas Maior. Rather than being topographically correct depictions of alpine scenes, most of Savery’s originals show incongruities that would be inexplicable had the artist really drawn “from life”. These drawings should instead be regarded as studio products for which the artist probably used rough sketches created during his travels, while in the finished drawings the fantastic element prevails. Doomer made copies of several of the Savery drawings in his possession, including the Stockholm sheet, for which no original by Savery has as yet been found.

In his copies, Doomer clearly made a deliberate attempt to imitate Savery’s drawing style, possibly both as a virtuoso display and as an expression of admiration. Savery’s alpine landscape drawings are most often executed in black and red chalk with some coloured wash, less frequently in pen. Doomer adapted this technique to the washed pen drawing, a medium he considered appropriate for the finished collector’s piece, and, with few exceptions, used chalk only for the original sketches made on his travels. This change in technique resulted, in Doomer’s copies, in greater clarity, particularly through his outlining of the contours with the pen. He also intensified the subtle effects of light and atmosphere of Savery’s originals by his superb wash technique. Within the group of Doomer copies, there are some marked differences in technique. Thus, the Stockholm Alpine Landscape may in particular be compared with the Paris View of a Mountain Range, in which a fine perspective has been achieved in the background by setting wide and somewhat paler pen strokes in a masterful manner on the absorbent paper, while the foreground was drawn with a fine, pointed pen. As in the Stockholm sheet, Doomer sometimes substituted staffage figures in elegant contemporary dress for Savery’s simple peasants, and he accentuated the clouds with the pen and brush.

The question of the date of these copies cannot be definitively answered. Doomer probably acquired the Savery drawings in 1658, and only then was he really in a position to make his copies. Since the models for three of these are in the Atlas van der Hem, Van Hasselt concluded that Doomer, himself a supplier of landscapes for that topographical collection, could have seen Savery’s originals at the house of Laurens van der Hem. Schulz, on the other hand, traced the Savery sheets in the Atlas to Doomer’s own collection, alleging that Van der Hem acquired those drawings from the artist in 1665. The copies, according to him, must date from the time of the sale of the originals, which would suggest that Doomer made them for himself to replace the originals he sold. However, as Sumowski noted, not all of Doomer’s copies after Savery were based on models in the Atlas. A dating around the mid-1660s also remains uncertain because, as Sumowski and Schatborn both recognized, there is no documented evidence of Doomer’s previous ownership of the Savery drawings in the Atlas. Still, although Doomer’s individuality as a draughtsman is somewhat obscured in these copies, any detectable analogies with his own work, as suggested by Sumowski, come closest to the drawings from his Rhine journey of 1663.

The Savery copies remained in Doomer’s possession, and he copied the waterfall of the Berlin drawing once more – presumably as late as the beginning of the 1690s – in a drawing in Brno, Mountain Landscape with Waterfall, Log Cabin, Traveller and Mule.
C. F. [Magnusson, Dutch Drawings no. 134]

Black chalk, pen and brown ink, watercolour, 114 x 160 mm. All four corners rounded. Very thin framing line in dark grey. No watermark. Chain lines: 28 mm.

The underlying sketch in chalk or graphite is barely perceptible, except in the background, where it has been left visible. The elegant skating couple and busy people on the ice, with a town in the distance, were a favourite theme. Comparable drawings are in the Royal Collection at Windsor. [Magnusson, Dutch Drawings no. 16]

Pen and brown ink, brown wash, 240 x 190 mm. Grey particles, most in evidence in the upper part (soot residue from the wash?). Some faint green spots in the lower centre. No watermark. Numbered in the lower right corner, in pen and brown ink, 180 (struck out) and 1798 (Sparre). Mark of the Royal Collection (Lugt 1638).

This is the model for the etching The Great Jewish Bride (Bartsch 340), which was given its title by a collector in the eighteenth century. The seated woman in her sumptuous dress, with a scroll in her hand, has been variously interpreted as Minerva or a sibyl. However, it seems more likely, as Kahr has suggested, that this is a representation of the Old Testament heroine Esther, who used her influence over her husband, the Persian ruler Ahasuerus, to prevent a pogrom of the Jews during their captivity. Having fasted and prayed for three days, she dons her queenly attire before interceding on behalf of her people. She is holding her husband’s decree, which would destroy the Jews. Kahr’s interpretation of a painting in the National Gallery, Ottawa, as Esther has been questioned; it depicts a young woman in magnificent attire, seated in the same position, with a servant combing her hair, but there are no further attributes.

There is a clear resemblance in style between this drawing and a Young Woman at her Toilet in the Albertina, dated to 1632–34. The model in both cases is probably Saskia, who served as Rembrandt’s model in a variety of contexts. She was also the subject of an etched portrait of 1634 (Bartsch 347). Adapting to the subject matter of Esther, our drawing shows a determined female figure with stern features and an upright position. This attitude is even more apparent in the etching, where the portrait likeness to Saskia is also less evident.

The print is usually dated 1635 (although an alternative dating to 1637 has been proposed by Kahr). The face is precisely drawn, and forms are first broadly indicated with fluent pen strokes. Greater emphasis is then introduced by broader and darker pen lines and wash. As White has pointed out, the rich tonal values would have been of greater use to the artist when biting the plate than when making the drawing on the plate. Royalton-Kisch has put forward the interesting hypothesis that the print was begun as a portrait of Saskia, in the earliest stages carried as far as the shoulders, and only then continued as a representation of Esther. The drawing would belong to this phase, the head and hair repeated in a pale ink and the sumptuous dress and the hand holding the decree drawn with bolder strokes in a darker ink.

The question remains why Rembrandt bothered to draw a full-length figure, since it would not fit on the plate. There, the figure is knee-length. There is also more space on the right in the drawing. Perhaps a second version or a painting was contemplated. [Magnusson, Dutch Drawings no. 313]

Pen and brown ink, brown wash, grey wash in the sky, corrections in white body colour, 205 x 301 mm. Ruled framing lines in brown ink. In addition, there are lines drawn freehand by the artist along the bottom and the left side. No watermark. Chain lines: 26 mm. Numbered in the lower right corner, in pen and brown ink, 1806 (Sparre) and 56 (struck out). Mark of the Royal Collection (Lugt 1638).

There is no known painting with this theme, but three drawings show an extended interest in it. If they are in fact autograph, these are relatively late works, produced over the course of a decade, and showing a gradual change in the subject and a refinement of its meaning.

The earliest drawing has been dated around 1651–52. It represents the actual betrayal, in accordance with the first two gospels. The composition is remarkable in its strong contrast between the lit area, where Judas kisses Christ, and the dark area with soldiers, including the one whose ear has been cut off by one of the followers. A later drawing, dated around 1656–57 by Benesch, follows John 18:6 in showing how the men who are to apprehend Christ fall to the ground when he declares himself. His divinity is manifested by the light emanating from him, and he is also drawn larger than the other figures. An episode from Mark 14: 51–52 has been added in the foreground, the young man who was seized but escaped naked. The soldier whose ear was cut off is among the group of soldiers, but is less evident.

In the present drawing, the emphasis has shifted once again. Christ, from whom the light emanates, dominates all. The outward conflict has been played down in this frieze-like arrangement, although the episode with the soldier and the fleeing youth are still included. They serve rather to emphasise the event as part of the divine plan, in keeping with the words of Christ in John 18:11: “Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?”

The angular, rough-hewn forms executed with a reed pen indicate a late work, the usual assumption being a date around 1659–60. The other two drawings are probably not by Rembrandt, but the components of the compositions are so similar that they must either be strongly influenced by the present drawing or reflect earlier stages of the composition. [Magnusson, Dutch Drawings no. 330]

Black chalk, 53 x 60 mm. Verso: Head of a man in profile. Black chalk, point of brush in grey and grey wash. The chalk seems to have been so hard that it has left parallel marks and in some places indented the paper. No watermark. Chain lines: 26 mm. Inscribed at the upper left, in red chalk, No 8. Numbered on the verso, in pen and brown ink, 1820 (Sparre) and 206 (struck out).

The sketch is cut at both top and bottom, since the man’s head on the verso was traditionally considered the most important motif, and the numbers and collector’s mark were placed there. Hofstede de Groot and Kruse were unaware of the existence of the present recto, and Kruse did not believe that the head of a man was by Rembrandt. However, it seems that the original chalk sketch has been reworked with the brush by a different hand, changing its character. Except for the wash, the underlying chalk study could perhaps be compared to a sheet with studies of heads in Rotterdam.

The sketch of a woman holding a child was discovered by Sumowski, who dated it around 1639–40 on the basis of the occurrence of a similar figure on the extreme right of the etching Mordecai’s Triumph (Bartsch 44). A comparable chalk study of a woman holding a child is found in a drawing in the Lugt Collection. The hard kind of chalk used seems to be the same, and in both cases the drawings have been sacrificed for those on the recto. The same kind of chalk also seems to have been used in the studies of heads in Rotterdam, mentioned above. Benesch dates our drawing and the one in the Lugt Collection c. 1635, the one in Rotterdam c. 1637. There are also numerous pen studies of women and children from that period, and a similar pose is found in a drawing in Rotterdam. [Magnusson, Dutch Drawings no. 311]

Black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash, heightened with white, on grey-brown paper, 415 x 318 mm. A triangular-shaped piece of paper inserted below Pomona’s right leg, on which the triangular piece of drapery between the knees and the dog has been drawn. A drawing on the verso is faintly visible when the sheet is held to the light. Ruled framing lines in black ink. Laid down. Mark of the Royal Collection (Lugt 1638). Numbered on the mount, in pen and brown ink, 1891 (Sparre).

Vertumnus approaching Pomona disguised as an old woman was a popular motif in Dutch 17th-century art. In the 18th century, this large, highly finished drawing was attributed to Lievens, and it has never been discussed in the modern scholarly literature. Pomona’s pose is similar to that of one of the muses in Lievens’s painting Five Muses in The Hague, but otherwise there is no apparent connection to the oeuvre of that artist. The drawing relates more closely to the work of Bol, who treated the subject repeatedly, as Snickare pointed out. In those cases, however, Pomona is not naked, but similar naked figures representing Venus are found in Bol’s mythological paintings. Snickare also noted the stylistic resemblance to the model drawings for his monumental paintings of the 1650s and early 1660s. Especially in the foreground staffage, the outlines are drawn in the same elegant manner.

An alternative, and more convincing, attribution to Knüpfer has been suggested by Michiel Plomp (email). Comparable drawings are Diana and Nymphs in the Musée Fabre, Montpelier, and Ulysses and Nausicaa in Berlin. The same model, including the hairstyle, is found in the painting of Venus in Oldenburg, and in a related drawing in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. In both works, the same parasol as in the present drawing is suspended over the nude woman. [Magnusson, Dutch Drawings no. 222]

Red, black and white chalk, pen and black ink, white body colour (oxidized), on red prepared paper, 242 x 167 mm. Verso: Study of a man draped in a cloak, seen from behind, and the bust of a woman holding an object, red chalk, pen and brown ink (on the hand holding the object). Framing lines in brown ink. On the recto, the shepherd is in black chalk, some areas are rubbed, and the whole figure is reinforced with pen and black ink. The other studies are in red chalk. There are faint traces of white chalk, but the studies of the two hands have been reinforced with body colour (oxidized). The verso of the sheet has no colour preparation, the figures are all in red chalk, and only the hand holding an object is reinforced in black ink. This seems to be the same ink as in the inscription at the bottom. The figures on the verso have been cut, and it is clear that the sheet was larger and trimmed to fit the figures on the recto. Watermark: Crosier. Chain lines: 25 mm. Numbered in the lower left corner, in pen and brown ink, 18, and in pencil, 1893; in the lower right corner 1704 (Sparre), 63 (struck out) and 49 (struck out). Inscribed on the verso, in pen and brown ink, Bloemaert.

The crossed-out number 49 corresponds to the number in the 1749 catalogue. The crossed-out number 63 perhaps indicates that Tessin first planned to place the drawing after the figure studies by Bloemaert in livre 18, which are numbered 59 to 62.

On the reclining shepherd, the black chalk has been rubbed and the outlines have been reinforced in pen and ink. The pen work is concentrated in the folds of the garment, and they are accurately reproduced in one of B. A. Bolswert’s engravings in The First Set of Animals, a series published in 1611. In the print, the shepherd folds one arm around a girl instead of holding his stick. Three different positions of the stick are sketched.

On the upper part of the sheet, red chalk with white highlights was used in the sketches of two hands, a forearm, and the back of a soldier bent forward, seen from behind. A similar study of a soldier bending to tie his skates is in the Tekenboek.

The painterly studies of drapery and the bust of a woman holding a vase or cup on the verso could be later, according to Bolten as late as 1645–50. The hand holding the vase has been reworked in pen and ink, and a similar motif is reproduced in an etching in the Tekenboek. The vase is a standard attribute of St Mary Magdalene. [Magnusson, Dutch Drawings no. 43]

Black chalk, watercolour, 170 x 210 mm. Verso: Houses by a canal, black chalk, pen and brown ink, watercolour. The present verso was treated as the main subject when the sheet was in the Anckarsvärd Collection, and it has turned brown from exposure to the light. There are remains of framing lines in brown ink. The present recto was only discovered when the drawing was removed from the mount, and is better preserved. It was once visible, and has ruled framing lines in brown ink. The corners, apart from the lower right one, are cut off. No watermark. Chain lines: c. 30 mm. Inscribed in the lower right corner, in pen and brown ink, Blomaert.

The same brick wall with a well at the far end, where it adjoins a higher wall, is depicted in a finished drawing in Leiden. This served as a model for a painting Rural Landscape with Tobias and the Angel, dated 1640. The other end of the wall, with adjoining buildings, is depicted in a drawing in the Fogg Art Museum in Cambridge, Mass. In that case, too, the motif has been used in a painting, Farmyard with the Prodigal Son, dated 1637.

Bloemaert made numerous studies of ruined buildings, or parts of them, viewed from different angles. One such drawing, in the Hermitage, includes a sketch of a woman seen from behind as in the present drawing. Similar small studies, many lightly washed, are found in a number of study sheets in various collections. The two women in the upper left corner correspond to the women in the foreground of the painting The Preaching of St John, although in reversed order. Roethlisberger dates the painting to 1625–30. Connected with it is a drawing in Utrecht, where the woman leaning on her right arm also appears. This figure, furthermore, is reproduced, in reverse, in one of the engravings by Frederick Bloemaert for the Tekenboek. Next to her, in reverse, there is also the woman lying down, drawn at the bottom left of the present drawing.

The drawing on the verso is similar in motif and manner of execution to a series of landscape drawings, mostly depicting houses or villages under the trees. Several of them have figure studies on the reverse. The scene with houses along a canal can be compared to a drawing in the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, with figure studies of the kind discussed above on the verso.

The recto and verso seem to express two different concepts of architecture, the one showing the general setting, the other focusing on a detailed description of the building. However, they go hand in hand. Surroundings similar to those of the verso of the present drawing are displayed in the painting Landscape with the Rest on the Flight, datable to around 1600. The same picturesque cottage that occupies the middle ground of the painting is present in reverse in the middle ground of the contemporary print Farmyard with the Prodigal Son, but there a dilapidated building, carefully rendered, dominates the foreground.

While Bolten dates the landscapes and studies of buildings to the period 1595–1605, he suggests the 1620s for the figure studies discussed here. In that case, the sheet must have been reused. But there seems little reason to separate the figure studies in the present drawing from the study of the brick wall. In fact, the way the wall stops short of the reclining women suggests that they were drawn first.

[Magnusson, Dutch Drawings no. 54]

Black chalk, heightened with white, on brownish paper, 361 x 302 mm. The sheet is badly damaged, with folds and worn areas, particularly in the lower part. There is a tear in the forehead. A fairly large patch of paper is inserted on the cheek, to the left of the mouth. A large area at the lower right and along the bottom has also been restored with a separate piece of paper, and an attempt has been made to complete the collar. Clumsy outlines in a different chalk (charcoal?) appear on the hat, with a few strokes in the face and hair as well. No watermark. Chain lines: 23 mm. Inscribed on the verso, on the piece of paper added at the bottom, in an 18th-century hand in pen and brown ink, Conterfeytzel van Waterloo. B. van der Helst F.

The entry for the drawing in the 1749 catalogue was crossed out, probably by Tessin himself, and the drawing is not included in the 1790 catalogue. It may have been considered insignificant, perhaps owing to its poor state of preservation, and ended up with other such drawings, the whole group later appended to the collection of architectural drawings (cf. Introduction).

The white highlights are concentrated in the forehead, nose and cheekbone, subtly modelling the face. There are also some white strokes on what is left of the collar. In spite of the poor state of conservation and the inexpert retouching, this is a powerful portrait. It seems compatible with the rendering of Paulus Potter. Hall reports that B. Renckens attributes the drawing to M. Sweerts. No other portrait of Waterloo seems to be known, and the identification of the subject relies solely on the inscription. [Magnusson, Dutch Drawings no. 180]

Graphite/black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash, 408 x 314 mm. Ruled framing lines in brown ink. Horizontal fold across the centre. Laid down.Inscribed in the lower right corner, Ostade, and numbered 1936 (Sparre), in pen and brown ink. Inscribed (dated?) in the lower left corner, in pen and brown ink, 1642. Mark of the Royal Collection (Lugt 1638).

There are faint traces of graphite, apparently partly erased, along the outlines of the objects, indicating that this is a copy. It seems to be a fairly accurate copy of a drawing in the Musée Borely, Marseille. That drawing has an old attribution to Adriaen van Ostade, and is inscribed AVO 1673 at the lower right. This is not repeated in our drawing.

Not in Schnackenburg. [Magnusson, Dutch Drawings no. 280]

Black chalk, grey wash, on grey paper, 254 x 254 mm. Framing lines in black chalk along the right side and the bottom. Laid down. Numbered in the lower right corner, in pen and brown ink, 2071 (Sparre). Mark of the Royal Collection (Lugt 1638).

A freely drawn and elegant sketch. Clearly by the same hand as the following drawing. Neither sheet is found in Carl Gustaf Tessin’s catalogues under Waterloo, but they are probably included in the large group of anonymous landscapes listed there. [Magnusson, Dutch Drawings no. 475]

Red chalk, 193 x 150 mm. Ruled framing lines in brown ink. Laid down. Inscribed in the lower left corner, in pen and brown ink, P. Tanjé fec. Mark of J. G. De la Gardie (Lugt 2722a).

Sancho Panza is keeping vigil in a stable before a holy image, while Don Quixote stands in front of him with a drawn sword. The scene is etched in an illustrated edition of Don Quixote, published in The Hague in 1746: Les principales avantures de l’admirable Don Quichotte, repreésentées en figures par Coypel, Picart le Romain, et autres habiles maitres, avec les explications des XXXI planches de cette magnifique collection, tirées de original espagnol de Miguel de Cervantes. The drawing corresponds to Planche XXVIII (facing p. 237), inscribed Tremolieres pinx and P. Tanjé sculp.

The book contains illustrations by Coypel (25), Boucher (1), Cochin fils (2), Le Bas (1) and Tremolières (2), engraved by Picart (12), Schley (13), Tanjé (5) and Fokke (1). The same illustrations appear in the Liège edition of 1776.

The paper is very thin, almost transparent, and the clean outlines were probably traced from another drawing. As Bartsch observed in his catalogue entry, the drawing was no doubt intended to be transferred to the etching plate. It is in the same direction as the etching, and the dimensions are identical, so it was almost certainly transferred to the plate by the counter-proof method. [Magnusson, Dutch Drawings no. 510]

Pen and brown ink, 86 x 68 mm. Ruled framing lines in brown ink. No watermark. Chain lines: 20 mm. Numbered in the lower right corner, in pen and brown ink, 1855 (Sparre) and 84 (struck out). Mark of the Royal Collection (Lugt 1638).

The mother and child are drawn with a few, bold strokes, showing Rembrandt’s mastery in characterizing a motif with simple means. Another sketch in the same manner, possibly of the same model, is in a British private collection. This small study is probably cut out of a larger sheet, in the way collectors often treated sheets with disparate sketches.

Most of Rembrandt’s drawings of mothers and children seem to date from the late 1630s (cf. above, entry no. 320), but this one has been dated on stylistic grounds to the late 1650s. [Magnusson, Dutch Drawings no. 326]

Pen and point of brush in brown ink, 130 x 84 mm. No watermark. Chain lines: 25 mm. Numbered in the lower right corner, in pen and brown ink, 192 (struck out) and 1836 (Sparre). Mark of the Royal Collection (Lugt 1638).

The emphasis in this drawing is on the old man, while the boy at his side is rather loosely sketched. The old man’s tall hat has been changed into a wider, flatter type of headgear. The drawing seems to be cut on the left. The two figures recur in a drawing in Rotterdam, there with a third, female figure on the left holding the old man’s hand. It seems that this was also the case in our drawing before it was trimmed. The Rotterdam drawing puts even more emphasis on the man, as both the boy and the woman are just sketched in. The old man has the same flat, turban-like headgear, and the posture is more shrunken, but with the set jaws of a man with his mind made up. To the left, his head is drawn a second time, with a sad expression and wearing a simple cap – the expression is closer to that of the Stockholm drawing. It would seem as if different types of headgear were tried, to support and reinforce the mood expressed.

The subject matter has proved difficult to determine. Kruse, Benesch and others have connected the drawing with the Visitation of 1640 in the Detroit Institute of Arts, and see the man as Zechariah, who is sometimes represented as supported by a youth. The boy is vaguely similar, but the female figure suggests yet another subject, Abraham’s dismissal of Hagar and Ishmael. Benesch has expressed doubt about the figure being that of a woman, and Schatborn has suggested that the drawing represents Jacob, Benjamin and an older son. However, for the Rotterdam drawing, Giltaij has made a convincing case for the older identification of Hagar and Ishmael. The emotions of grief, fatal determination and resignation expressed by the succession of heads in the two drawings would all be appropriate with such an interpretation.

There is an almost identical rendering of an old man in one of the many black chalk drawings by Rembrandt from the early 1640s. Such studies would have provided material for a number of compositions. Rembrandt probably tried the same figure in different contexts, modifying the expression accordingly. In contrast, the two pen drawings, identical in style, must be part of an exploration of a specific theme. Benesch dates the drawings to c. 1639–40, while Giltaij suggests a slightly later date, about 1642–43, based on the lack of finely defined detail and the broad manner of reworking. Whether Rembrandt’s style developed in so orderly a manner that this kind of close dating is meaningful, however, remains an open question. [Magnusson, Dutch Drawings no. 318]

Black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash, 121 x 167 mm. Ruled framing lines in brown ink. Traced for transfer. Along the top of the verso is an area coloured grey, possibly etching ground. Watermark: Fragment (crown of a shield?). Chain lines: c. 30 mm. Numbered at the lower left, in pen and brown ink, 1492 (Sparre). Mark of the Royal Collection (Lugt 1638).

A market scene with Europeans trading with semi-naked indigenous people. The tracing is done in the same free and sketchy manner as in the previous drawing, modifying the forms and changing the positions of objects and limbs. The framing lines are part of the drawing and serve to define the exact size of the print, 117 x 164 mm. No print by Visscher is known, but the grey on the verso could be traces of etching ground. The closest parallel would be an etching of a trading scene of similar dimensions, A Market in a Dutch Port, dated 1610. The print has the number 1, but no further prints in the series are known. A preparatory drawing for the etching is in Amsterdam. It is very close in style to the present drawing. [Magnusson, Dutch Drawings no. 462]

Red chalk on brownish paper, 235 x 147 mm. Ruled framing lines in brown ink (partly cut away along the top, renewed on the left). The paper is blackened on the verso. Partly indented (below). Watermark: Coat of arms (close to Haewood 608: Leiden 1619). Chain lines: 25 mm. Numbered in pen and brown ink, in the lower right corner, 62 (struck out), and on the mount, 1702 (Sparre).

The profile of the old woman was used by Bloemaert in a painting in Utrecht, The Adoration of the Shepherds. She is one of the spectators in the little crowd. The same face seen en face, with the head slightly upturned, drawn below, was copied by Bloemaert in the Cambridge Album, fol. 133, for the Tekenboek. It was engraved by Frederick Bloemaert. Only this head has been traced for transfer. [Magnusson, Dutch Drawings no. 41]

Pen and brown ink, brown wash, corrections in white body colour on the cottage to the left, 182 x 242 mm. No watermark. Numbered in the upper right corner, in pen and brown ink, 1886 (Sparre).

A drawing of two similar cottages is in the Getty Museum, Los Angeles. The style is identical, the difference being the use of wash in the present drawing, which lends it the character of a finished composition. Benesch brought together a group of drawings with similar characteristics in various collections, dating them all around 1641 and comparing them to a series of etchings of that period (Bartsch 219–228).

However, the drawings could very well have been made some years before Rembrandt executed similar motifs as etchings. Recently, Cynthia Schneider has pointed to the stylistic affinity with drawings of the mid 1630s, in particular two landscape drawings in silverpoint. They depict cottages of the same type, which are not found in the vicinity of Amsterdam, but which the artist could have seen in the eastern provinces. Rembrandt travelled with Saskia to Friesland after their engagement in 1633, when he drew his portrait in silverpoint. He probably visited these parts of the country in 1634 and 1635, as is pointed out by H. Bevers, who dates the Berlin drawing to c. 1633–35. [Magnusson, Dutch Drawings no. 323]

Watercolour and gouache, 147 x 138 mm. Watermark: Foolscap. Chain lines: 23 mm. Signed on the branch, in pen and brown ink, PH (monogrammed), with the date 1653. Numbered in the lower right corner, in pen and brown ink, 2928 (Sparre) and 73 (struck out). Mark of the Royal Collection (Lugt 1638).

Tessin catalogued this drawing with two others of birds, one of which, a pelican, was described as “un oiseau domestique de l’Empereur Maximilien, vû a Anvers en 1547”. This entry was repeated in the 1790 catalogue, when they were again given three consecutive numbers, 2926 to 2928. [Magnusson, Dutch Drawings no. 182]

Graphite, grey wash, 190 x 233 mm. Vertical fold left of centre, with some discoloration along it. Watermark: The letters HIS (fragment). Chain lines: 28 mm.

This drawing is evidently cut from a larger sheet, like the two previous ones. [Magnusson, Dutch Drawings no. 435]

Graphite, pen and brown ink, grey wash, 142 x 116 mm. No watermark. Chain lines: 25 mm. The framing lines are part of the drawing. Measurements along the left side, 4 Voet Hoogh, and at the bottom left, on a glued-on piece of paper, 3 V.3 d. breet, in pen and brown ink. Inscribed at the bottom, Rhimbrand. Cabinet de Crozat, and numbered in the lower right corner, 77 (struck out), 30 and 1847 (Sparre), all in pen and brown ink. Mark of the Royal Collection (Lugt 1638).

The entombment (Luke 23: 53) is seen from inside the tomb, the opening framing the scene, which is arranged on three levels. The body of Christ, followed by the mourners, is being carried inside, where there is an open sarcophagus near the entrance. Behind, on a higher plateau, are the empty bier and some people left behind. Above them rises the cliff of Golgotha with the crosses, and there too, in the distance, some figures seem to be looking down. In the foreground, a light wash separates the figures. The figure in front of the dead body is darker (numerous pentimenti) and contrasts with the body and the man holding its shoulders.

The measurements indicate that this is a drawing for a painting. An oblique line on the right with the measurements marked seems to indicate the calculated angle of vision from below, but this would be a fairly small painting, only four feet high, and the effect of foreshortening seen at such an angle would not be very noticeable unless it was very high up.

Early on considered a school work, it was first attributed by Bjurström in 1967, who compared it to a series of drawings of Joseph and his brothers in the Louvre. The present drawing has certain features in common with Rembrandt’s Entombment in Munich. At the time, Eeckhout is supposed to have been Rembrandt’s pupil. However, the drawing is clearly the work of a mature master. Sumowski dates it to c. 1661–65. [Magnusson, Dutch Drawings no. 143]

Pen and brown ink, 178 x 154 mm. Verso: Woman holding a child, and the head of a man with a turban, pen and brown ink. Right edge torn irregularly, perhaps from a sketchbook. No watermark. Chain lines: 18–28 mm. Numbered in the lower right corner, in pen and brown ink, 1839 (Sparre). Mark of the Royal Collection (Lugt 1638).

Rembrandt seems to have kept his studies of women and children in a separate folder. An album containing 135 such studies was later owned by the painter Jan van de Capelle, according to an inventory of his estate in 1680. It is tempting to assume that Roger de Piles acquired this album.

This and the following drawing are probably two sheets from the same sketchbook, which seems to have been reused, since there are drawings of a head with a turban on the verso of this sheet, and an unfinished turban on the next. The drawings of turbans are done with a finer pen, and according to Benesch by a different hand. More likely they are earlier, and the unfinished sketchbook was reused. Another head with a turban, neglected by Benesch, was published by White. That drawing, in the British Museum, is clearly by the same hand, and the features of the face, in particular the moustache, suggest that it also represents the same model. The head is on the verso of a drawing of a standing oriental, dated to c. 1639.

Rembrandt made numerous studies of women with infants on their laps during the years around 1640, when several of his children were born and he had the opportunity to study this motif in his own home. Vogel-Köhn therefore places them in the period 1639–43, also on stylistic grounds, while Benesch preferred a slightly later date. A further echo of these studies can be found in Rembrandt’s paintings of the Madonna and Child of the mid 1640s, one of which is in the Hermitage, and another in Kassel. On the other hand, Lugt connected the Stockholm drawings with a study of a woman and child in the Louvre and dated them to 1635–40. Haverkamp-Begemann, in his review of Lugt, added two more drawings to the group and agreed with Lugt on the earlier dating.in Kassel. On the other hand, Lugt connected the Stockholm drawings with a study of a woman and child in the Louvre and dated them to 1635–40. Haverkamp-Begemann, in his review of Lugt, added two more drawings to the group and agreed with Lugt on the earlier dating. [Magnusson, Dutch Drawings no. 320]

Pen and brown ink, brown wash, on coarse, felt-like grey paper, 129 x 284 mm. Verso: Landscape with a view down a road, pen and brown ink. Vertical fold left of centre (best visible on the verso). No watermark. Inscribed in the lower left corner, Rimbrant (Tessin), and numbered in the lower right corner, 314, in pen and brown ink.

Two farmhouses are seen under the trees from across a canal. Behind them rises the top of a haystack. A rider and two other figures are approaching on the left, but the ink is different and they seem to have been added later. The same place, some farmhouses on the road to Sloten, is also represented in drawings in Copenhagen and Paris. Bakker has suggested that the place is identical with that of a drawing by Leupenius in Rotterdam, dated 1666. The sketch on the verso is assumed to be the same road, but looking in the opposite direction, towards Amsterdam.

The paper is unusually coarse, but lends itself well to the sparse and vigorous hatching with the reed pen, and also works for the short, undulating lines of the brief sketch on the verso. The same manner is seen in drawings in Rotterdam and Amsterdam, both on a similar kind of paper. The present drawing is also close to a sketch in the Kunstakademie in Vienna.

An etching of three farmhouses dated 1650 may also be connected with Rembrandt’s studies along the road. The drawings are usually dated a few years later. In the Washington exhibition, the Stockholm drawing was dated later still, in the second half of the 1650s. The Rotterdam drawing is dated around 1653 by Giltaij, the one in Amsterdam 1660 or later by Schatborn.

The Copenhagen drawing is on vellum, which allows a finer pen and freer movement of the hand than the coarse paper of the Stockholm drawing. However, given the identity of style and the fact that several of the drawings depict the same place, they must belong to the same period. [Magnusson, Dutch Drawings no. 334]