RQ-07 · Resolved
Does the verso carry collector marks, dealer codes or inscriptions?
Why it matters
The back of a print is where its ownership history is usually written: collectors' stamps, dealers' stock numbers, pencil annotations, mount and hinge remnants. This is the most likely single route into the undocumented interval in the provenance. The Rijksmuseum's impression carries two identified collector marks; there is no reason in principle this sheet could not carry one.
What the record currently holds
Resolved, negatively. The verso has been photographed. It carries no collector's mark, no stamp, no pencil inscription, no dealer's code and no mount or hinge remnant — only a diagonal tideline across the lower half and general handling marks. The sheet has no marks on the recto either beyond the printed image.
- 5Auction catalogueCondition-report photographs of the sheet, recto and verso, supplied by the auction house · Bonhams · 2023-05-03on request
Hypotheses
The verso is blank.
Strongly supportedConfirmed in plain light. This is a real finding: it closes the most likely route into the sheet's ownership before 2023.
Method
- 01Verso photography under the same documentation discipline as the recto.
- 02Any mark found is compared against the standard reference for collectors' marks and cited by its Lugt number.
- 03Pencil inscriptions are transcribed exactly, including anything illegible, marked as such.
What would resolve it
Resolved by direct photographic evidence. Examination under ultraviolet or raking light could still reveal a faded stamp or an erased inscription, and would be worth doing during the conservator visit, but the plain-light answer is settled.
Dead ends already walked
No collector's mark of any kind is present. For a sheet that passed through the market for two centuries or more, that is unusual enough to be worth recording, and it means provenance research on this impression cannot start from a Lugt number.
2026-08-12