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Rembrandt made hundreds of prints: landscapes, religious stories, and portraits. But this small etching—a world unto itself—is his only still life. And a very life-like world it is, for shell collectors can recognize the shell immediately as the home to Conus marmoreus (or "marbled cone"), a snail-like creature that lives in the Indian Ocean, far from Amsterdam. Rembrandt never traveled outside of the Netherlands, but the country’s links of trade and conquest brought this shell across the seas to be immortalized by his etching needle.
The Shell
Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669)
1650
Medium/Technique
Etching and drypoint
Dimensions
Platemark: 9.7 x 13.2 cm (3 13/16 x 5 3/16 in.)
Sheet: 10.9 x 14.3 cm (4 5/16 x 5 5/8 in.)
Sheet: 10.9 x 14.3 cm (4 5/16 x 5 5/8 in.)
Credit Line
Harvey D. Parker Collection—Harvey Drury Parker Fund
Accession Number97.1244
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope, Prints and Drawings
ClassificationsPrints
Rembrandt made hundreds of prints: landscapes, religious stories, and portraits. But this small etching—a world unto itself—is his only still life. And a very life-like world it is, for shell collectors can recognize the shell immediately as the home to Conus marmoreus (or "marbled cone"), a snail-like creature that lives in the Indian Ocean, far from Amsterdam. Rembrandt never traveled outside of the Netherlands, but the country’s links of trade and conquest brought this shell across the seas to be immortalized by his etching needle.
Catalogue Raisonné
Bartsch 159, ii / ii; White & Boon 159 ii /iii; Hind 248 ii / ii Gersaint 154; Middleton 290; Münz 274; BB. 50-E; White & Boon 159 ii / iii
Marks
Verso, stamped in black ink, the collector's mark of Ambroise Firmin-Didot (Lugt 119)
Verso, stamped in red ink, the collector's mark of Henry Foster Sewall (Lugt 1309)
Verso, stamped in red ink, the collector's mark of Henry Foster Sewall (Lugt 1309)
InscriptionsLower left, In plate: Rembrandt. f. 1650
Verso, upper left, in graphite:EH / FOP
Verso, lower left, in graphite: B159
Verso, upper left, in graphite:EH / FOP
Verso, lower left, in graphite: B159
ProvenanceAmbroise Firmin-Didot (b. 1790 - d. 1876; Lugt 119), Paris; May 9, 1877, posthumous Firmin-Didot sale, Paris, Danlos, Delisle, and Pawlowski, Paris, lot 921, sold for FR 980. Henry Foster Sewall (b. 1816 - d. 1896; Lugt 1309), New York; 1896, by inheritance to his son, Charles Sewall (b. 1848 - d. 1898); 1897, sold by Charles Sewall to the MFA [see note]. (Accession Date: April 11, 2022)
NOTE: Henry F. Sewall offered his collection to the MFA for purchase in 1888. That purchase was finalized in 1897, one year after his death.
NOTE: Henry F. Sewall offered his collection to the MFA for purchase in 1888. That purchase was finalized in 1897, one year after his death.