.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This etching of a journeying peasant family is one of many studies which Rembrandt made throughout his career of beggars and county folk. The poorly dressed man, carrying a bag and wearing patched trousers and an old jerkin, leads a toddler by the hand. The child wears a coat, hat and clogs, and is followed closely by the mother who is barefoot, and carries another infant strapped to her back. Despite their poverty, she has ensured that her child is adequately clothed, even if she is not. The toddler has turned away, temporarily distracted by something outside the picture frame. Curiosity pulls the child away from the father, who does not pay attention, but strides on firmly with his walking stick. It is an instantly recognizable family scenario, of a parent chivvying a child, which transcends categories of wealth and class.
The etching is drawn in Rembrandt’s lively late style comprising many loose parallel lines, and ‘is stylistically akin to The Blindness of Tobit [lot 17] of 1651 and Christ disputing with the Doctors of 1652 [lot 24] and this print is also generally dated to this time’ (Hinterding, 2008, p. 270). An ambiguous area of etching to the right of the man’s stick can be identified as the remnants of an earlier study of the man’s head when the image is turned 90 degrees to the left.
The etching is drawn in Rembrandt’s lively late style comprising many loose parallel lines, and ‘is stylistically akin to The Blindness of Tobit [lot 17] of 1651 and Christ disputing with the Doctors of 1652 [lot 24] and this print is also generally dated to this time’ (Hinterding, 2008, p. 270). An ambiguous area of etching to the right of the man’s stick can be identified as the remnants of an earlier study of the man’s head when the image is turned 90 degrees to the left.