Rembrandt Prints From the Josefowitz Collection
8 Video Views·Dec 5, 2025
Step inside the world of Rembrandt. Join Tim Schmelcher and Stefano Franceschi for a walkthrough of The Sam Josefowitz Collection: Graphic Masterpieces by Rembrandt van Rijn – Part III, spotlighting outstanding works that encapsulate the artist’s genius as a printmaker, from early studies and biblical scenes to the rarest and most sought-after portrait etching, ’Arnout Tholinx, Inspector’, unseen at auction for 101 years.
Presented together for the final time before they enter collections worldwide, these works offer an unparalleled look into Rembrandt’s unique mastery of the print medium.
Welcome to Christie's London, where we're showing the final part of Sam Josefowicz's
collection of Rembrandt's etchings.
Sam spent 40 years of his life to assemble this amazing collection, arguably the greatest
of the 20th century.
The top lot of the sale is this portrait of Arnaud Tourling's Inspector, Rembrandt's
rarest of his late portrait prints of 1656.
A medical inspector is depicted here seated on a chair.
The last time this subject was offered at auction was exactly 101 years ago, when this
very sheet was offered here at Christie's in 1924.
This is the Three Crosses, one of Rembrandt's largest and most ambitious printing projects.
The scene depicts the moment of Jesus' death on the cross in the Mount Golgotha.
At the lower right of the cross, we have a group of mourners, including the Fainting
Virgin and Saint John holding his head in despair.
These were years of intense experimentation for Rembrandt as a printmaker.
The Josefowicz impression is printed on vellum, used entirely the drypoint technique.
The artist would have scratched the design on the hard surface of the copper plate in
order to achieve this rich yet elusive velvety effect of the drypoint bur.
This is the Entombment, the scene when Jesus' body is lowered into the grave by four men.
The Josefowicz impression is again printed on vellum, and Rembrandt has left an almost
solid layer of surface stone to darken even further an already somber scene.
Presumably, he rolled the sheet twice on the press in order to achieve the double printing
in the lower part of the subject, to achieve an uncanny, dark and trembling effect.
Rembrandt's Christ healing the sick is also called the Hundred Gilda print because already
at the artist's lifetime it was sold for the incredible sum of 100 guilders.
It shows a crowd of people gathered around Christ preaching and healing the sick.
It's a dualistic image showing on the right-hand side the poor, the sick and the faithful,
and on the bright, seemingly unfinished side the rich, the powerful and the doubtful.
The entire collection will be on view until the 3rd of December.