Rembrandt School, 1640s

Among the many figure studies, in all media, that Rembrandt made during the course of his career, a series of intimate, black chalk studies of individual figures or small groups, mostly dating from the later 1640s, constitute a distinct and particularly appealing group. As William W. Robinson¹ and Peter Schatborn² have both described, although these drawings were sometimes copied, there are in fact very few independent drawings of this type by Rembrandt's pupils. That said, current scholars have been hesitant in attributing the present drawing to Rembrandt himself, with the exception of Dr. Holm Bevers, who believes it is an autograph study by the master, comparable with other examples included by Schatborn in his recent monograph on Rembrandt's drawings.³

1. W. W. Robinson, 'Five black chalk figure studies by Rembrandt,' Master Drawings, vol. 36, no. 1 (1998), pp. 36-44 

2. Most recently in P. Schatborn and L. van Sloten, Old Drawings, New Names. Rembrandt and his Contemporaries, exh. cat., Amsterdam, Rembrandt House Museum, 2014, pp. 110-118, cat. nos. 35-39

3. P. Schatborn and E. Hinterding, Rembrandt. The Complete Drawings and Etchings, Cologne 2019, nos. D400, D402, D403 and D404