Featured Did I just find a Rembrandt Van Rijn on garage sale?

Picked this up for 40 bucks and took it home and did some research.

And it seems to me this is an actual Rembrandt Van Rijn dry-point from 1646. Now, this might be a later state than that but still pretty amazing if I am right here.

If I am losing my mind and way off feel free to tell me!

The back is checked and it seems to be on laid paper so it should be old at least.

 

I would not dare to say, but it might be more likely a later copy of the Rembrandt print. Here is one (19th century French) in the collection of Bryn Mawr College:
Charles Amand-Durand (French, 1831-1905), after Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (Dutch, 1606-1669); Jan Cornelis Sylvius (1882, after 1646 print). Heliogravure from newly engraved copper plate, X.332.

https://exhibitions.digital.brynmawr.edu/temperamental/media/charles-amand-durand-french-1831-1905-after-rembrandt-harmensz-van-rijn-dutch-1606-1669.meta?versions=1#:~:text=This posthumous portrait of the Dutch preacher,a choleric exhortation or sanguine moral guidance.

Still a very fine print... and a great find.

 

Thank you!

I am trying to find subtle differences in my print and the one here to see if I can rule it out or if its likely this.

Hoping its an original but perhaps that was too much to hope for!

 

Is this a watermark?

 

Full size picture of back.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/116048532481

Compared to a Durand heliograveure here the back seems "thicker" and on a better sheet in mine. Anyone agree with that?

 

And Durands watermark (also available in the ebay article) in the sheet seem to be above the oval while it goes right through the oval in mine.

 

No thats just a fault I think.

 

Durands preacher (elevated contrast)



My preacher.


What is the conclusion here? I don't dare conclude myself in the hope I have an actual Rembrandt.

 

Durands watermark up top:



Mine seems to go right through the oval:

 

@Ex Libris

 

This example in the British Museum provides a good technical description of a first state of this print -

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_F-6-53

It notes a "Strasbourg Bend" watermark, which should look like this -


https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/conservation/watermarks-rembrandt/

I cannot read what the watermark on your print says, but it could be useful in establishing a date.

 

More on Rembrandt watermarks -

https://jhna.org/articles/decision-trees-for-watermark-identification-in-rembrandts-etchings/

As you seem to be keen on prints, I can recommend a useful book on identifying printing techniques by Bamber Gascoigne: How to Identify Prints: A Complete Guide to Manual and Mechanical Processes from Woodcut to Inkjet.

 

You need to take it to a museum with a Rembrandt print expert. If you are not close to one and want to write and send pictures for a preliminary opinion (to see if it is worth the journey), be sure you include excellent, close details that show line quality. An expert may be able to rule out authenticity from pictures but would not be able to attribute a work without seeing it. If you are thinking of selling it, a major art auction house like Christies or Sothebies would evaluate it. (I do not know their rules. Never had anything for them to evaluate.)

(Antiquers' site only allows less than 1M images--far below the quality to give even a preliminary opinion.)

 

Wow, what a find. The watermark seems too modern for a 17th century etching or copper engraving.

For watermarks I always try to find one in Bernstein. The word 'portfolio' gives no matches there. This needs to examined by a real expert imho.

It is not possible to shine a light though the paper?

 

The "portfolio" is Durands (modern reprod)

Mine is fainter and much lower on the paper. But I can't really decode it.

Its currently in the mail but will def shine a light through it and take pics and post them here when it arrives. Bought it at an online garage sale.

 

The location of a watermark on the paper is not necessarily diagnostic. It might occur only once on a full sheet, and depends on the size of the print and what portion of a sheet it occupied.


https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/conservation/watermarks-rembrandt/

 

I just noticed - in the beginning you said -

Now you say it is in the mail and you don't have it in hand. It seems a bit premature to excitedly ask us to help authenticate something you have not been able to examine.

 

things that make you go hummmmmmm...!