etching
signed, dated and inscribed ‘RHL [interlaced] inventor/ JG [interlaced] v. vliet fec./ 1634’ (in the plate)
22.2 x 18.8 cm (plate); 22.3 x 19 cm (sheet)
Bartsch 19; Hollstein 19 [1], first state (of three), a very good impression, trimmed just outside, on or just inside the plate mark (upper right and lower left), there are some unobtrusive flattened creases, there are two central horizontal (contemporary) paper flaws, there are three small ink spots, there is a thin spot upper left and a scratch in the lower right which has been treated, the sheet is in otherwise good condition

A substantial part of Van Vliet’s œuvre consists of prints after his own invention, which were often, at least to a small extant, executed in the style of Rembrandt. In addition to these, Van Vliet made prints together with Rembrandt, and finally, he made prints directly after paintings by Rembrandt. [2] Both artists, born in Leiden, collaborated for about five years, from 1631 to 1636. [3] The present etching is amongst the works that were created during this period it can be regarded as the highlight of the artist’s graphic œuvre in terms of subject matter and execution. Very little documentary evidence about the collaboration of the two artists has survived, so the prints themselves, such as the present one, are the main sources shedding light on this collaboration. The print, which is one of Van Vliet’s rarest and most sought-after prints on the market, belongs to a series of 6 tronies after paintings by Rembrandt, of which five have survived. These all date from before Rembrandt’s departure to Amsterdam and it is therefore possible that Van Vliet saw these works in Rembrandt’s workshop in Leiden. [4] The present etching is after Rembrandt’s celebrated and astonishingly loosely painted self-portrait from circa 1628, now in the Rijksmuseum. [5] While Van Vliet could not translate the lose brushwork in the etching due to the medium’s limitations, he did manage to render Rembrandt’s portrait with great accuracy and brilliant chiaroscuro lighting. He furthermore extended the composition to make it the same size as the other tronies in the series. The cross-hatching in the lower left, added to suggest both a shadow casted by the sitter and to give the print a more three- dimensional quality, is undoubtedly inspired by Rembrandt’s own etchings. [6]

[1] C. Schuckman, Hollstein’s Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts. ca. 1450-1700. Volume XLI. Johannes (de) Visscher to Robert van Voerst, Roosendaal, 1992, p. 162.
[2] M. Royalton-Kisch, ‘Van Vliet: Rembrandt’s Printmaker’, in Rembrandt & Van Vliet. A collaboration on copper, exhib. cat., Museum Het Rembrandthuis, Amsterdam, 1996 p. 8.
[3] E. de Heer, ‘Jan Gillisz van Vliet, ‘Plate Cutter in Leyden’, in Rembrandt & Van Vliet. A collaboration on copper, exhib. cat., Museum Het Rembrandthuis, Amsterdam, 1996.
[4] M. Royalton-Kisch, op. cit., p. 52.
[5] Inv. SK-A-4691.
[6] See, for example, The New Hollstein 120.