Description
Rembrandt van Rijn
Portrait of Cornelis Claesz Anslo, Mennonite Preacher, after the 1641 composition
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The image reproduces Rembrandt’s 1641 portrait of Cornelis Claesz Anslo, an Amsterdam cloth merchant and Mennonite preacher. Seated at a table, Anslo holds a pen and rests his hand on a book, surrounded by volumes that reinforce his role as an orator, scholar and religious guide. The contrast between the illuminated face, the heavy garments and the worked background focuses attention on the sitter’s intellectual presence.
The work bears the signature and date in the plate, visible at the right: “Rembrandt f. 1641”.
A later handwritten German inscription appears on the mount: “Authentische Rembrandt Radierung” (authentic Rembrandt etching). This inscription is later and does not constitute a certification by the artist.
The original composition was executed by Rembrandt in etching and drypoint. The present impression is catalogued as a later print.
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Technique: etching and drypoint
Dimensions: 13 × 11 cm
Signature and date in the plate: “Rembrandt f. 1641”, visible at the right
Later inscription: “Authentische Rembrandt Radierung”
References for the original composition: New Hollstein 197; Hind 187; White & Boon 271
Provenance: private family collection. According to family history, the print is believed to have arrived in Argentina circa 1880–1890 with a German ancestor of the current owners who was connected to the diplomatic service. He later lived in Belgium in a property that is said to have subsequently served as the Argentine Embassy.
