Reproduction
Object number
293
Record type
single object
Catalog (number)
Bartsch: B91
New Hollstein Dutch: NHD159
Object name
Title
Etching plate: The Return of the Prodigal Son; Verso: illustration from Juan Alfonso de Molina Cano's "Descubrimientos geométricos"
Creator
Production date
1636
Technique
Material
support:
copper (inked and lacquered)
Dimensions
plate height: 159.5 mm
plate width: 139 mm
Accompanying text
In a single state and with no additions in dry point Rembrandt has managed to suggest a convincing depth. The main figures and the steps in the foreground are drawn with a thicker etching needle than the figures by the house, while the landscape beyond the gateway is indicated by just a few very fine lines.
Acquisition
Group of 74 plates directly purchased from Rembrandt by Clement de Jonghe in the 1650´s; Pieter de Haan d. 1766; Claude-Henri Watelet d. 1786; Pierre-Francois Basan d. 1797; Auguste Jean; Auguste Bernard; Alvin Beaumont purchased the plates from Bernard’s son, 1906; Beaumont sold them to Dr. Robert Lee Humber, 1938; sold by the descendants of Robert Lee Humber, 1993. Four plates of this group (of which this is one) came to The Rembrandt House Museum through Arcold Inc. (this purchase was made possible by the support of the Rembrandt Association [Vereniging Rembrandt], the Friends of The Rembrandt House Museum, VSB Foundation and the Ministry of Culture), and six plates are on loan from private collections.
