Rembrandt excelled in the technique of etching. Like engraving, etching is an intaglio printmaking method, meaning that the image is incised below the surface of the plate (as opposed to relief prints, such as woodcuts). Etched lines are not cut with a burin, but are bitten with acid. The copper plate is covered with an acid-resistant ground, usually of wax or resin, and the artist draws the image into the ground with a stylus. Acid is then applied, which eats into the exposed areas. The longer the plate is exposed to acid, the deeper the bite and therefore the stronger the line. Different depths are achieved by covering some lines with acid-impervious varnish and biting others for a longer period of time. The ground is then removed and the plate inked for printing.
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- Titles The Crucifixion (Proper)
- Artist Rembrandt van Rijn, Dutch, Leiden 1606/1607 - 1669 Amsterdam
- Medium etching and drypoint
- Dimensions sheet: 5 5/16 × 3 15/16 in. (13.5 × 10 cm) mat: 13 3/8 × 11 in. (34 × 27.9 cm) frame: 19 × 16 1/2 × 1 3/4 in. (48.3 × 41.9 × 4.4 cm)
- Credit Line Gift of the Junior League of Birmingham, 1954.24
- Work Type print
- Classification Prints
- Signature Unsigned
- Marks Collector's mark, verso, lower center, in black ink: FK [in circle, Lugt 1021] Stamp, verso, bottom center, in purple and black ink: O.E.[Lugt 2007] 579
- Inscription Recto: none Verso, top center, in pencil: N o[superscript, underlined] 81 Upper center, in pencil: 6 Lower center, in pencil: B. 79 Bottom center, in blue ink: 40514 Lower right, in brown ink, collector's mark: [two or three indecipherable letters, Lugt 392] Bottom right, in pencil: 6
- Provenance Baron Charles Marochetti (1805-1867), Paris and London [see note 1]; auctioned at his posthumous sale, Sotheby’s, London, March 31, 1868, lot 47; purchased by dealer Marseille Middleton Holloway (1820-about 1897), London [see note 2]. Friedrich Kalle (1804-1875), Cologne and Bonn, Germany [see note 3]; auctioned at his posthumous sale, M. F. A. C. Prestel, Frankfurt, November 22, 1875, lot 820; purchased by dealer Heinrich Gottlieb Gutekunst (1833-1914), Stuttgart, Germany [see note 4]. Knoedler & Co., New York, London, Paris [see note 5]. Junior League of Birmingham, Alabama; gift to the Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama, 1954
1. Lugt 392
2. “Holloway” is listed as the buyer in an annotated catalog at the Metropolitan Museum of Art of the 1868 sale.
3. Lugt 1021
4. “Gutek” is listed as the buyer in an annotated catalog at Princeton University of the 1875 sale. This is an abbreviated form used by the annotator for “Gutekunst,” which appears periodically throughout the publication.
5. Lugt 2007. The dates of Knoedler’s ownership are unknown. This ownership could potentially predate previous entries of this narrative.