Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn

A very fine lifetime impression of this very rare portrait, the series of accidental marks along the upper edge still visible. This is the last and rarest of Rembrandt’s etched study sheets, featuring a central self-portrait flanked by two vignettes: a beggar with cupped hands on the left, and, rotated 90 degrees, a beggar woman with a child in the lower section. The self-portrait closely resembles Self-portrait Etching at a Window (1648, NH 240), showing Rembrandt with fuller, middle-aged features, though less formally presented and without a hat. The beggar figures recall those in A Blind Hurdy-Gurdy Player and Family Receiving Alms (1648, NH 243). The plate is signed 'RL 1651' below, but since Rembrandt had adopted his full signature by the 1630s, some scholars once read the date as 1631 and considered the portrait that of a relative. However, recent watermark studies support a date around 1648, consistent with the style. The use of the monogram and the 1651 date remain unexplained. Classified as 'RRR+' by Nowell-Usticke, who described it as 'An extremely rare study sheet'. Trimmed to the inky platemarks. – One tiny, barely noticeable brown spot below the artist's head. Verso with remnants of previous mounting. Otherwise in very good condition. Extremely rare!