RQ-02 · Under investigation
Is this impression New Hollstein 170, state III?
Why it matters
State is the field that locates a sheet in the life of a plate. For this plate it does more than that: the catalogue is explicit that the work visible in the third state is not Rembrandt's. So the state determination decides whether this impression is a document of Rembrandt's workshop or of the plate's afterlife under other hands.
What the record currently holds
The catalogue entry is in hand and all four state descriptions are published on the state atlas. The auction cataloguer determined state III, citing two features: no signature, and a diagonal scratch in the plate at upper left only slightly visible. On closer reading the first of those does not discriminate — the catalogue's reproduction of state II does not show the signature clearly either, so an absent signature narrows the sheet to state II or III and no further. The determination therefore rests on the scratch and on the cataloguer's reading of the line-work. No specialist in Old Master prints has examined the sheet.
- 3Institutional recordNew Hollstein Dutch & Flemish, Rembrandt, no. 170, pp. 31–32 and plates 84–87 · Erik Hinterding and Jaco Rutgers · 2013on request
- 5Auction catalogueCondition-report photographs of the sheet, recto and verso, supplied by the auction house · Bonhams · 2023-05-03on request
Hypotheses
The sheet is New Hollstein 170, state III — a posthumous rework of the plate.
PossibleThe auction cataloguer's determination. Lowered from probable on 12 August 2026 when one of its two stated grounds turned out not to discriminate between states II and III.
The sheet is New Hollstein 170, state II — the plate as Rembrandt left it.
PossibleState II is by far the most numerous state, it is the only state White & Boon recognised, and it is equally consistent with an impression showing no legible signature. It has not been excluded.
Method
- 01Compare the sheet against the catalogue's diagnostic features for states II and III, feature by feature, recording each as present, absent or indeterminate.
- 02Compare against the catalogue's reproductions of 170/II and 170/III.
- 03Where a feature is indeterminate on the existing photographs, re-photograph that passage under raking light and magnification.
What would resolve it
A specialist comparing the sheet against the four features the catalogue uses to define state III: cross-hatching added at the base of the feather and along the brim of the cap above the eyes; the curved lines on the forehead extended over the brim; strong horizontal shading on the right ear; short diagonal lines in front of the left ear and on the beard at the right of the chin. Each is present or it is not, and the answer does not depend on anybody's opinion of the sheet.