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Original etching and drypoint printed in black ink on laid paper with a partial Foolscap watermark.
Signed and dated in the plate lower right Rembrandt f. 1655.
A very fine 17th century/lifetime impression of Bartsch, Usticke and New Hollstein’s only state of this desirable etching, showing touches of burr.
In excellent condition, with thread margins on all four sides.
God subjected Abraham to the hardest of tests by making him sacrifice his only son on a mountain in the land of Moriah. With two servants and an ass, Abraham and his son set out on the journey. They went alone for the last part, Isaac carrying the firewood and his father the fire and knife. On the way the unsuspecting boy asked where the lamb was that would provide for the sacrifice. By way of an answer Abraham said that God would provide for the sacrifice. When Abraham and Isaac arrived at the appointed place, Abraham built and altar on which to sacrifice his son. At the moment he was about to cut his throat, an angel stayed his arm and told him he had proved himself in the eyes of God by no withholding his only son from Him (Genesis 22-1-12).
Literature regarding this artwork: Julius S. Held, Rembrandt and the Book of Tobit, The Gehenna Press, Northampton, Massachusetts, 1964, no. 31 (ill.); Holm Bevers, Peter Schatborn, Barbara Welzel, Rembrandt: The Master & his Workshop, Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 1991, pp. 278-280, no. 39 (ill.); Christopher White, Rembrandt as an Etcher: A Study of the Artist at Work, Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 1999, pp. 104-105, no. 130 (ill.);
Erik Hinterding, Ger Luijten, Martin Royalton-Kisch, Rembrandt the Printmaker, Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago & Lonson, 2000, pp. 313-315, no. 77 (ill.); Michael Zell, Reframing Rembrandt: Jews and the Christian Image in Seventeenth-Century Amsterdam, University of California Press, Berkeley-Los Angeles-London, 2002, fir. 112, p. 188 (ill.); The Gospel According to Rembrandt, The University of San Diego, Founders Gallery, 2004, pp. 18-19, fig. 13 (ill.); Shelly Perlove/Larry Silver, Rembrandt’s Faith: Church and Temple in the Dutch Golden Age, Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, Pennsylvania, 2009, fig. 52, p. 91 (ill.).
Collections in which impressions of this etching can be found: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; Museum het Rembrandthuis, Amsterdam; Baltimore Museum of Art; Kunstmuseum Basel; Kupferstichkabinett der Staatliche Museen, Berlin; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig; Cabinet des Estampes, Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, Brussels; Szépmüvészéti Museum, Budapest; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, The Art Institute of Chicago; Kunstsammlungen der Veste, Coburg; Staatens Museum fur Kunst, Copenhagen; Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cracow; Graphischen Sammlung des Hessischen Landesmuseums, Darmstadt; Kupferstich-Kabinett des Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden; Gabinetto disegni e stampe degli Uffizi, Florence; Graphische Sammlung des Stadel Museums, Frankfurt; Alte Galerie des Steietmärkischen Landesmuseums Joanneum, Haarlem; Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg; Prentenkabinet des Rijksuniversiteit, Leiden; The British Museum, London; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Minneapolis Institute of Arts; State Pushkin of Fine Arts, Moscow; Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Morgan Library and Museum, New York; Norwich Castle Museum; Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; Musée du Petit Palais, Paris; Fondation Custodia, collection Frits Lugt, Paris; Musée du Louvre, Paris; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg; Staatsgalerie Stuttgart; Musée Jensich, Vevey; Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna; National Gallery of Art, Washington; Library of Congress, Washington; Kunstsammlungen zu Weimar; Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Zurich.
