Currently not on view
Jan Lutma, Goldsmith,
1656
Rembrandt van Rijn, 1606–1669; born Leiden, Netherlands; died Amsterdam, Netherlands
x1949-240
Born in Germany, Jan Lutma (about 1584–1669) settled in Amsterdam, where he became a master gold- and silversmith. In this sensitive portrait by Rembrandt, the elderly craftsman is seated in an elaborate carved armchair, accompanied by the tools and creations of his trade: a hammer and a pot containing punches along with a chased-silver bowl rest on the table while Lutma holds a candlestick. The subtle play of the warm, diffuse light from the window and the cast shadows on Lutma’s figure imparts an atmospheric intimacy that is missing from the more formal portrait by his son Jan Lutma the Younger in the same year. In 1656, Lutma recovered from a temporary deterioration of his eyesight. It is thought that he may have commissioned both prints to use as announcements that he was still (or again) working in the craft that had brought him fame and fortune.
Information
Title
Jan Lutma, Goldsmith
Dates
1656
Maker
Medium
Etching and drypoint
Dimensions
plate: 19.8 x 15 cm. (7 13/16 x 5 7/8 in.)
sheet: 21 x 16.1 cm. (8 1/4 x 6 5/16 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Jessie P. Frothingham
Object Number
x1949-240
Place Made
Europe, Netherlands
Inscription
Signed in plate in window, upper center: Rembrandt f 1656
Marks/Labels/Seals
Watermark: foolscap with suspended 4 over three circles
Inscribed in faint graphite below image, lower center: Lutma
Reference Numbers
Bartsch 276; Biörklund and Barnard 56; Hind 290; Hollstein 129; Münz 77; New Hollstein 261.293
Materials
Techniques
Subject
- E. F. Gersaint and Adam von Bartsch, Catalogue raisonné de toutes les estampes qui forment l’oeuvre de Rembrandt et ceux de ses principaux imitateurs (Vienne: A Blumauer, 1797)., 124
- "Recent Acquisitions," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 8, no. 2 (1949): 11–12., p. 12
- Ludwig Münz, Rembrandt's Etchings: Reproductions of the Whole Original Etched Work (London: Phaidon Press, 1952)., no. 48
- George Biörklund and Osbart H. Barnard, Rembrandt's Etchings, True and False (Stockholm, New York [etc.], 1968)., no. 34
-
F.W.H. Hollstein, “Rembrandt,” Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings, and woodcuts, ca. 1450-1700 (Amsterdam: M. Hertzberger, 1969).
, no. 23 -
Erik Hinterding and Jaco Rutgers, Ger Luijten, ed., "Rembrandt," New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts, 1450-1700 (Ouderkerk aan den Ijssel: Sound & Vision Publishers ; Amsterdam: In co-operation with the Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum, 2013).
, no. 135, p. 215 - Arthur Mayger Hind, Rembrandt's etchings: an essay and a catalogue, with some notes on the drawings (New York: Scribner, 1912)., 141
