The Hundred Guilder Print (the cut plate)
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn
* 1606 in Leiden † 1669 in Amsterdam
Etching, engraving and drypoint. Size of sheet: 19.5 x 12.6 cm.
Literature: New Hollstein (Rembrandt, text) II.153.239 IV/IVD.
The complete image of this print represented Christ with the Sick around Him, Receiving Little Children. The more well-known title The Hundred Guilder Print refers to an early story that Rembrandt paid one hundred guilders to buy back an impression of the print, suggesting it had already become rare early on.
In the 18th century, Captain William Baille (1723-1810) purchased the original copper plate from the artist John Greenwood, and reworked it until he printed an edition of one hundred impressions in 1775. He subsequently cut the plate into four pieces. Our impression is printed from the right fragment with the Donkey, the Camel and the Wheelbarrow.
Very fine impression of this uncommon print, untouched and printed on the full plate partly with thread paper margins.
£ 4,500.-