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Bargains in black and white

As rare prints go on sale at the London Original Print Fair, Scott Reyburn reveals why a Rembrandt may be a relatively affordable investment

Ask anyone who is knowledgeable about prints, ‘Who were the truly great printmakers?’, and they’ll usually come up with four household names: Durer, Rembrandt, Goya and Picasso. Press a print aficionado a little further and ask, ‘But who was the greatest of them all?’, and they’ll almost invariably plump for Rembrandt.

Bearded Man, Wearing a Velvet Cap, with a Jewel Clasp, 1637, by Rembrandt Bearded Man, Wearing a Velvet Cap, with a Jewel Clasp, 1637, by Rembrandt. Etching, first of two states, Paul McCarron Fine Prints & Drawings. Price: $16,000 (£8,960) Bearded Man, Wearing a Velvet Cap, with a Jewel Clasp, 1637, by Rembrandt. Etching, first of two states, Paul McCarron Fine Prints & Drawings. Price: $16,000 (£8,960). A good example of the sort of ‘entry level’ print, priced at about £8,000 to £10,000, that dealers advise collectors to consider when thinking of buying their first Rembrandt. This sort of money won’t buy good examples of the artist’s most famous etchings, but this particular image of a wealthy, middle-aged man is nonetheless one of the more sensitively observed and elaborately worked of the many head-and-shoulders character studies that Rembrandt produced during his long career. Crucially, the etching, which is signed and dated 1637, was printed during the artist’s lifetime. It was issued in only one state and the original copper plate for the print no longer exists, which adds to the rarity value. So, too, does the fact that it is in unusually good condition and has quarter-centimetre margins, rather than being trimmed within the plate mark. Most surviving Rembrandt etchings have lost their original margins. The print also has the plus of a documented provenance, having been owned by Aro Zarena, a well-known collector, who was active in the 1860s. Bearded Man, Wearing a Velvet Cap, with a Jewel Clasp, 1637, by Rembrandt. Etching, first of two states, Paul McCarron Fine Prints & Drawings. Price: $16,000 (£8,960) Bearded Man, Wearing a Velvet Cap, with a Jewel Clasp, 1637, by Rembrandt. Etching, first of two states, Paul McCarron Fine Prints & Drawings. Price: $16,000 (£8,960). A good example of the sort of ‘entry level’ print, priced at about £8,000 to £10,000, that dealers advise collectors to consider when thinking of buying their first Rembrandt. This sort of money won’t buy good examples of the artist’s most famous etchings, but this particular image of a wealthy, middle-aged man is nonetheless one of the more sensitively observed and elaborately worked of the many head-and-shoulders character studies that Rembrandt produced during his long career. Crucially, the etching, which is signed and dated 1637, was printed during the artist’s lifetime. It was issued in only one state and the original copper plate for the print no longer exists, which adds to the rarity value. So, too, does the fact that it is in unusually good condition and has quarter-centimetre margins, rather than being trimmed within the plate mark. Most surviving Rembrandt etchings have lost their original margins. The print also has the plus of a documented provenance, having been owned by Aro Zarena, a well-known collector, who was active in the 1860s.

‘Rembrandt is particularly special because he’s just drawing on the plate. That’s where he breaks completely new ground,’ explains Christopher Mendez, one of London’s leading specialist dealers in old master prints. Mendez is one of a number of international dealers who is showing a group of high-quality Rembrandt etchings at this year’s London Original Print Fair, to mark the 400th anniversary of the artist’s birth.

‘Most of the prints were done for Rembrandt’s own satisfaction and then sold,’ he adds. ‘If you look at the religious prints, they aren’t just an artist “doing God”. They show real people. You can examine all the figures in The Three Crosses and each one could be a life study. It’s all real life. Rembrandt is the ultimate life artist.’

Rembrandt remains one of the few Old Masters who, in an age of digitally enhanced photography and video installations, still maintains an aura of universal relevance. Yet, incredibly, collectors can still buy original prints by Rembrandt for a few thousand pounds. Last November, 35 lots of Rembrandt etchings, many of which had been produced during the artist’s lifetime, were included in Christie’s pre-Christmas sale of old master, modern and contemporary prints. Prices ranged from just £900 to £13,000, with the majority selling for under £5,000. Why are works by the world’s greatest printmaker so cheap, in relative terms?

As Armin Kunz of the New York and Dusseldorf dealers C.G. Boerner points out, not all Rembrandt prints are created equal. ‘Because many of his printing plates survive to this day (and some are even printed today), the discrepancy between a poor late reprint and the finest impression is nowhere more extreme. The very best impressions of Rembrandt’s most important prints, such as Ecce Homo, The Three Crosses and the Hundred Guilder Print, can cost well over $1 million [£562,800].’

The market for old master prints, like so many other aspects of the art market, is sharply polarised between the best and the rest. There are a few famous trophy pieces, such as Rembrandt’s The Three Crosses, that every serious collector and museum print room covets. These command exponentially higher prices, while other fine but less celebrated works, particularly by master printmakers who aren’t well-known as painters — the superb early seventeenth-century etchers Jacques Callot and Wenceslaus Hollar are prime examples — can be picked up for under £5,000.

This sort of money goes rather less far in the market for a household name such as Rembrandt. Later, poor and damaged impressions, as well as small, lifetime-struck etchings of less desirable subjects like peasants and old men, can be picked up for under £5,000. However, if a collector is prepared to spend a little more, Rembrandt will begin to represent better value for money.

Rembrandt produced etchings of over 290 different subjects that engage with virtually every aspect of human life, ranging from the most elevated religious experience to the most mundane daily bowel movement. There are plenty of compelling images produced in the artist’s own lifetime, which have perhaps even passed through his own hands, that can still be bought for relatively affordable prices.

‘It’s always important to buy lifetime impressions. Rembrandt is a household name and prints made in his own lifetime have always increased in value, while the later impressions are virtually worthless,’ advises New York dealer Paul McCarron. ‘You can get something for $10,000 [£5,600], but if you can stretch to pay $15,000 [£8,500] or more for a good impression of an interesting image that’s in reasonable condition, it really is worth making the sacrifices to do it. These aren’t expensive when you think people are prepared to pay $200,000 [£112,500] for an Andy Warhol screenprint.’

The relatively modest prices of Rembrandt’s less celebrated etchings reflect the current unfashionability of old master prints per se. Most new collectors who enter today’s print market are looking for colourful twentieth-century images with enough physical and visual presence to hold their own in spare, white, modern interiors. Picasso and Andy Warhol, not Rembrandt and Dürer, have become the dominant figures at Sotheby’s and Christie’s print auctions and the percentage of old master material offered at these sales has dwindled dramatically over the last ten years. With increasing numbers of time-poor, cash-rich print buyers decorating rather than collecting, old master prints, with the unique demand they place on connoisseurial ability to differentiate between different impressions and states, are increasingly perceived, justifiably or not, as an antiquarian backwater.

‘There isn’t a single serious specialist old master print shop left in London,’ sighs Christopher Mendez, who now deals from home and at fairs. ‘Most people regard old master prints as small, black and white, and boring.’

This can only be good news for anyone who can cope with the boredom of owning an etching made by the hands of a 400-year-old genius who, as Kenneth Clark memorably wrote in his Introduction to Rembrandt, ‘digs down to the roots of life.’

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