Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn

The Carlyon Family, Tregrehan House, Cornwall

With Colnaghi, London, their stock number R. 617 in pencil verso (acquired from the above in 1958)

Private English collection (acquired from the above, 8 February 1960)

Christie's, London, Fifty Prints by Rembrandt van Rijn A Private English Collection, 5 July 2016, lot 31

Acquired from the above by the present owner

Bartsch, Hollstein 223; New Hollstein 256 

Praised as “the most perfectly resolved” of Rembrandt’s landscape prints by Nicholas Stogdon, Landscape with a Farm Building and the 'House with the Tower' rarely appears at auction, despite having been printed in four substantive states. The present atmospheric impression of Rembrandt’s fourth (final) state, swathed in delicate plate tone and punctuated by velvety touches of burr, compares well with the same state from the celebrated Salting collection (bequeathed to the British Museum, 1910,0212.398). The ethereal plate tone in this impression, coupled with the dramatically etched cloud cover at upper left, suggests a storm passing through the sweeping landscape, adding a heightened sense of movement and depth.  

While many of Rembrandt’s landscape prints are at least partially imagined, the location of this work has been identified as the home of Dutch tax collector Johannes Uytenbogaert (1608-80), an acquaintance of Rembrandt’s who featured in a 1639 etching. In the first two states of this landscape, the precisely rendered ‘House with the Tower’ at far right is crowned by a distinct cupola and spire which were unique to Uytenbogaert’s home on the Amstelveenseweg. In the final two states of this subject, Rembrandt burnished these architectural elements away. The physical building stayed intact, however, suggesting that Rembrandt’s choice was purely aesthetic.¹

[1] Stogdon, Nicholas, Etchings by Rembrandt in a Private Collection, Switzerland, 2011, p. 170