Leiden 1606 - 1669 Amsterdam

The Tribute Money (1st State), circa 1635

Etching with drypoint

75 x 103 mm.; 2 3/4 x 4 inches

Provenance:

A.P.F. Robert-Dumesnil (Lugt 2200)

S. William Pelletier (with his mark)

Reference:

Bartsch/Hollstein 68

Hind 124

Biörklund/Barnard 35-2

Notes:

1. A very fine, early impression of the 1st State (of two states), printing with rich burr and with inky plate edges.

2. According to the Bible (Matthew XXII, 15-22), the Pharisees understood the growing influence of Jesus who had chased the money-changers from the temple and who had become known for apparently having healed the blind, the lame and other afflicted ones. They therefore tried to entrap Jesus concerning a question of a point of law:

"Tell us then...is it lawful to pay a census tax to Caesar or not?"...[Jesus replied]: "Show me the coin that      pays the census tax.". They then handed him a Roman coin. He thereupon said to them: "Whose image is this and whose inscription?". They replied: "Caesar’s". He then said to them: "Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God". When they heard this...they went away.

3. In this etching, Rembrandt has very carefully adhered to the biblical text. The subject clearly is a sequence to his Christ Driving the Money-Changers from the Temple. Both of these works date from the same year of 1635, but, in their ordering, Bartsch/Hollstein date The Tribute Money as having been etched slightly earlier during that year.

4. The provenance on this work includes Alexandre-Pierre-François Robert-Dumesnil (Paris 1778 - 1864 Paris). Robert-Dumesnil was the author of the eight volumes: Peintre-Graveur Français. His interest in collecting prints started n 1826 and took over his life by 1835 when he abandoned his business activities in order to devote himself entirely to the world of print collecting. His idea , in developing his books on printmaking, was to add to the earlier accomplishments of Bartsch (Adam Bartsch, Le Peintre Graveur, 21 vols., Vienna, 1802-1821). The title of his first volume was: Peintre-Graveur Français, ou catalogue raisonné des estampes gravées par les peintres et les dessinateurs de l’école Française, ouvrage faisant suite au "Peintre-Graveur" de M. Bartsch. The first six volumes of Robert-Dumesnil appeared by 1850. The last two volumes were completed later by Georges Duplessis, curator at the Bibliothèque Nationale.