The Story
…; ? estate inventory, Clara de Valaer (1584-1660), widow successfully of Eduart van Domselaer (1568-1624) and Hendrick van Domselaer (1580/81-1652), Amsterdam, 16 October 1660, as security (‘een stuk synde twee pauwen ende een kint van Rembrant’);{Bredius 1908, p. </em> 1979, p. 461, doc. no. 1660/15 } ? estate inventory of her son, Tobias van Domselaer (1611-85), Amsterdam, September 1685 (‘een groot schilderij met twee paeuwen van Rembrandt’); {Hofstede de Groot 1906, p. 419, doc. no. } …; ?
-1777), Soho Square, London;{The collector and dealer John Blackwood is known to have imported paintings from the Dutch Republic. His collection is mentioned in his 1777 will, but without specification of the individual works; London, The National Archives, Prerogative Court of Canterbury, inv. no. PROB 11/1036, 19 November 1777, Codicil p. } ? } ? his widow, Catherine Ann Blackwood (? - 1804), Cheshunt Nunnery, Hertfordshire; ?
Executed in height 145 cm x width 135.5 cm, measuring width: 135.5; width: 162.5; height: 170; thickness: 5; height: 145, the surface rewards close looking. Rembrandt van Rijn builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
