Attributed to Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn

Sale, Paris, Christie's, 16 December 2005, lot 201

Small repaired hole towards top right corner and another small repair in lower right corner. Chalk somewhat rubbed, but otherwise condition generally good.
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Although the fact that this is such a rapid, slight sketch makes it hard to be entirely certain of the attribution, this charming drawing has all the hallmarks of the distinctive black chalk figure studies that Rembrandt executed in some numbers between the late 1630s and the mid 1650s.  This type of very rapid chalk sketch was not something that was often done by any of his pupils, and the tender treatment of the subject is also very typical.

Rembrandt's black chalk figure studies have been studied twice by William W. Robinson,¹ who describes the distinctive handling, the tendency to depict lively, exotic or picturesque subjects, and the fact that many of the studies are small and perhaps originated from larger sheets.

Rembrandt made numerous drawings of mothers with children, and although this was not one of the thematic categories that was specifically mentioned when an inventory of his drawings was made in 1656, it is widely assumed that he did in fact have a separate album containing studies of this type.  He shows every aspect of early childhood: children playing, being fed, learning to walk, and even throwing tantrums.  A rather similar study of a child in a high chair being fed by its mother is in Munich.²  

In overall style, the most comparable to this of Rembrandt's known black chalk figure drawings is the recently discovered Study of a blind beggar with a boy and a dog, which Peter Schatborn has dated to the late 1640s.³

^1. William W. Robinson, 'Five Black Chalk Figure Studies by Rembrandt', Master Drawings, vol. XXXVI, no. 1, Spring 1998 ('Essays in Honor of Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann'), pp. 36-44, and Idem, 'Black chalk drawings by Rembrandt', in Festschrift für Konrad Oberhuber,' Milan 2000, pp. 303-6.  

^2. Otto Benesch, The Drawings of Rembrandt, rev. ed., London 1973, vol. 2, no. 277

^3. Sold, London, Christie's, 3 July 2012, lot 50