Rembrandt created over 300 etchings in his lifetime. Today, almost all of the still existing etching plates are held in public collections.
The provenance of these plates can be summarized as follows:
The provenance of these plates can be summarized as follows:
- 1767: The plates were first documented during an auction of the estate of Pieter de Haan, an Amsterdam dealer. Most of these plates originally belonged to Clement de Jonghe, a print dealer and a friend of Rembrandt. We can be extremely grateful to him because it was Clement de Jonghe who helped to save the etching plates from the bailiff when Rembrandt landed in bankruptcy.
- 1767: At an auction 56 plates were purchased by Pierre Fouquet, an Amsterdam art dealer, acting on behalf of French collector Claude-Henri Watelet. Watelet's collection eventually comprised 83 Rembrandt plates.
- 1786: Watelet’s collection was acquired by the French graphic publisher Pierre-François Basan at a posthumous auction in Paris. Basan published them in 1789 as “Recueil de quatre-vingt-cinq estampes originales par Rembrandt” (Collection of eighty-five original prints by Rembrandt). Further editions were issued until 1810, both during his lifetime and through his son, Henry-Louis Basan.
- 1820: The plates were acquired by Auguste Jean, who continued to publish them. After his death in 1820, his widow inherited them.
- 1846: The plates were acquired from Jean’s widow by engraver Auguste Bernard. Although Bernard did not publish complete editions, he likely produced individual prints. His son, Michel Bernard, sold the plates to Victor Alvin-Beaumont around 1907.
- 1938: Alvin-Beaumont had the plates framed and attempted to sell them to major institutions, including the Rijksmuseum and the British Museum, without success. He eventually sold them to the American collector, Robert Lee Humber.
- 1970: After Humber's death in 1970, the plates were forgotten but remained with his heirs.
- 1993: In the early 1990s, American graphic arts dealer Robert M. Light, in collaboration with London-based Artemis Fine Arts, acquired the plates from Humber’s heirs. He offered them for sale and this allowed museums and collectors globally to obtain original Rembrandt etching plates for their collections.
This history illustrates the journey of these Rembrandt plates through various hands and institutions, highlighting their eventual prominence in public collections worldwide.
The above information is based on the book of Erik Hinterding, ‘The History of Rembrandt’s Copperplates, with a Catalogue of Those that Survive’
The above information is based on the book of Erik Hinterding, ‘The History of Rembrandt’s Copperplates, with a Catalogue of Those that Survive’