Clement De Jonghe, Printseller

By 1635, art collectors were seriously interested in the trial proofs that revealed Rembrandt's working process, so he began to produce editions of prints taken from the plates in unfinished stages. Here are two stages of one such print, a portrait of Amsterdam printseller and publisher Clement de Jonghe. Rembrandt began with a direct, informal notation of the sitter and then pushed the portrait in a more formal and sculptural direction. A few years after creating this portrait, Rembrandt became bankrupt, causing his stock of etched copper plates to come into De Jonghe's possession.