The Great Jewish Bride

Details

Bartsch 340; White/Boon 340 V (von V); Hinterding/Rutgers (The New Hollstein) 154 V (von V).

Provenienz:
Edward Scriven (1775-1841), London, verso mit handschriftlichem Vermerk (vgl. Lugt 903).

Description

Quite excellent, fine and contrasting impression, with the horizontal lines on the masonry in the upper right and with the additional shading on the wall behind the bride. The wall printing somewhat dry. The plate was reworked by Rembrandt up to the last state, which shows the stone wall at the back right built up from individual blocks. With a fine margin around the platemark or trimmed to the same.
The artist created this beautiful portrait from 1635, one year after his marriage to Saskia van Uylenburgh in Amsterdam. To this day, the sitter has not been clearly identified. According to earlier findings, it is said to be the daughter of Ephraim Bonus, the Amsterdam doctor whom Rembrandt portrayed in 1647. Franz Landsberger in “Rembrandt, the Jews and the Bible”, Philadelphia 1946, points out that a Jewish bride awaits her bridegroom with her hair falling and a ketubah in her hand. Earlier authors believed in a portrait of Saskia, and a portrait of Rembrandt’s sister was also considered. – The sheet edges with minimal marginal tears. A 4 cm long, carefully closed tear in the upper right. Paper slightly thinned in upper left corner verso. With mounting strips on the verso and somewhat roughened as a result of an earlier mounting. In good condition.
The plate was lost early, there are no late prints.