REMBRANDT HARMENSZOON VAN RIJN [REMBRANDT]
(Leyden 1606-Amsterdam1669)
TITLE: “THE FLUTE-PLAYER" (het Uylenspiegeltje)
TECHNIQUE: Etching and drypoint
A young couple resting beside a stream, the man playing flute
with an owl perched on his shoulder, the girl making a flower garland at left.
Shepherds do more than their fair share of walking, but their lives also provide ample opportunity for relaxation.
It represents an amorous situation and Rembrandt played a transparent game with ancient ambiguities
and innuendos surrounding the flute and garland; the owl is a symbol of wickedness.
This print was formerly called “het Uylenspiegeltje” (the scoundrel), and not without reason.
Rembrandt concealed all kinds of erotic double entendres in this scene of a shepherd couple beside the water.
The man furtively peeks under the woman’s skirt and happens to point with his flute (a phallic symbol) in the same direction.
The woman is weaving a wreath of flowers, an allusion to female genitalia.
SIZE: 122mm by 151mm [sheet]
Fourth state of four, without the face among the branches.
Barstch 188, Hollstein Dutch 144, New Hollstein 211.
Very good impression on 17th century laid paper.
Trimmed outside the copperplate, 4mm margins on left, lower and right side, 2mm margin upper side.