Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn

A very fine atmospheric impression of this delicate landscape, with good contrasts and the sulphur tint rich. With fine margins around the platemark. The landscape depicted could be either Diemen or Ouderkerk. It is also possible that it is a capriccio, a fusion of both places. The print is essentially a study of how to depict a building close to the viewer, with a distant landscape in the background. Here, Rembrandt achieved a careful, gradual receding perspective, enhanced by the diagonal arrangement of the cottages, which direct the eye into the distance, rather than the frontal arrangement seen in the landscapes of 1641. The receding perspective is emphasised by the winding road, which leads directly away from the viewer. The skilful use of sulphur tones also serves to unite the whole, the near and the far, into a harmonious depiction of the landscape on a damp, cloudy day. Listed in Nowell-Usticke with the note: "A scarce print; probably a snow scene". – The paper is minimally and evenly time-stained. In the lower right corner, with a tiny crease. Verso with isolated spots of thinning along the edges and with remnants and traces of a former mount, otherwise in very good condition. Very rare.