A man wearing a turban and holding a stick. Lithograph by J. Phelps, 1825, after Rembrandt.

1825

1 print : lithograph ; image 49 x 38.5 cm

From a painting by Rembrandt in the collection of Mr Rocke. Drawn on stone by I. Phelps.

The literary magnet of the belles lettres, science, and the fine arts, 1825, vol. 3, 'Monthly journal', p. 16 ("The lithographic copy of the picture of a Dutch burgomaster, from the original painting, by Rembrandt, in the possession of Mr. Rocke. Drawn on stone, by John Phelps. We have been favoured by a friend with a sight of this beautiful copy of one of the most admirable of Rembrandt's portraits, and we are induced to notice it particularly, as it has given us a much more elevated idea of the capabilities of lithography, when applied to portraits, than any thing that had before come in our way. In fact, we have no hesitation in stating that, in our judgment, it is the finest and most masterly lithographic portrait that has yet been executed in this country.")

A. Bredius, Rembrandt: the complete edition of the paintings, revised by H. Gerson, London: Phaidon, 1969, p. 192 Br. no. 239, the Gulbenkian version ("An old man in a fancful costume holding a stick, 1645")

Wellcome Collection 3064093i

Attributed in The literary magnet (loc. cit.) to John Phelps (1780-1851), but no evidence has been found that he was an artist or lithographer. Possibly by the engraver and lithographer Joseph Phelps: prints by him bear the names Joseph Phelps (after W. Collins, 1827) and Jos.h Phelps (after Stothard), and similar prints from the 1820s bear the names I. Phelps (as here), J. Phelps etc.

After a painting that in 1825 was "in the collection of Mr Rocke". A painting of the same composition (in reverse) was acquired by Calouste Gulbenkian and passed to the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon (inv. 1489), but the provenance suggests it was not the one in Mr Rocke's collection: the provenance of the Gulbenkian version is given as Louis Antoine Crozat collection, Paris; Collection of Catherine II of Russia; Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg; acquired by Calouste Gulbenkian through Antikvariat, Moscow, October 1930