19. Rembrandt Van Rijn
(1606-1669)

Dr. Faust in His Studio, Watching a Magic Disk

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Rembrandt, Faust

Dr. Faust in His Studio, Watching a Magic Disk

Etching, drypoint and burin, ca. 1652, 209 x 160 mm., Bartsch 270, Hind 260 ii/iii, Boon/White 270 ii/iii, Nowell-Usticke 270 ii/vii, ex collection: Unknown L (not in Lugt). A very fine impression, with burr, on laid paper without apparent watermark, with narrow margins all around and in fine, fresh condition. The impression is almost identical in appearance to that of the second state in the British Museum (although that one is on a different paper), but also to a supposed intermediate state between the second and third in Chicago. The impression, however, is before the added shading on the book at the right that produced the odd shape of an hourglass or two triangles joined at their points (third state). The image is one of Rembrandt’s most mysterious, seemingly poised between being a genre picture of an alchemist in his studio and something more specific and perhaps more profound.