115 Two Thatched Cottages with
Figures at a Window
Pen and brown ink, white gouache corrections; H: 13.2
cm (5*4 in.); W: 20.2 cm (7I5/i6in.)
85.GA.93
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: None.
PROVENANCE: N. A. Flinck, Rotterdam (?); William,
second duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth; by descent to
the current duke (sale, Christie's, London, July 3, 1984 ,
lot 61); art market, New York.
EXHIBITIONS: Exhibition of Dutch Art 1450-1900, Royal
Academy of Arts, London, 1929, no. 603 (catalogue by
D. Hannema et aL). Drawings by Old Masters, Royal
Academy of Arts, London, 1953, no. 313 (catalogue by
K. T. Parker andj. Byam Shaw). Rembrandt: Tentoonstel-
ling ter herdenking van de geboorte van Rembrandt op 15 juli- Tekeningen, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen,
Rotterdam, and Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, May- Au-
gust and August-October 1956, no. 100 (catalogue by E.
Haverkamp-Begemann). Old Master Drawings from
Chatsworth, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.,
and other institutions, 1969-1970, no. 96 (catalogue by
J. Byam Shaw). Treasures from Chatsworth: The Devon-
shire Inheritance, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Rich-
mond, and other institutions, 1979-1980, no. 96 (cata-
logue by A. Blunt et al.).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: F. Lippmann, Original Drawings by
Rembrandt, ist ser. (Berlin, 1888-1892), no. 65; C. Hof-
stede de Groot, Die Handzeichnungen Rembrandts (Haar-
lem, 1906), no. 852; A. M. Hind, The Vasari Society for
the Reproduction of Drawings by Old Masters, ist ser. (Ox-
ford, 1907), vol. 3, no. 24; C. Neumann, Rembrandt
Handzeichnungen (Munich, 1918), p. 6; J. Kruse and C.
Neumann, Die Zeichnungen Rembrandts und seiner Schule
im Nationalmuseum zu Stockholm (The Hague, 1920), p.
96 ; A.M. Hind, Rembrandt (Cambridge, Mass., 1932),
pp. 104, 105; J. Rosenberg, Rembrandt (Cambridge,
Mass., 1948), vols. i, pp. 88-89; 2, fig. 127; H. E. van
Gelder, Rembrandt en het landschap (Amsterdam, 1948),
pp. 10, 20; O. Benesch, The Drawings of Rembrandt (Lon-
don, 1955), vol. 4 , no. 796, fig. 944; J. Rosenberg, Rem-
brandt: Life and Work (London, 1964), pp. 152; 353, n. 2a;
S. Slive, Drawings of Rembrandt (New York, 1965), vol.
i, no. 65; O. Benesch, The Drawings of Rembrandt (Lon-
don, 1973), vol. 4, no. 796, fig. 996.
THIS IS ONE OF FIVE DRAWINGS MADE BY REMBRANDT
around 1640 that are similar to one another in setting and
technique (Benesch 1973, vol. 4, nos. 794-797, 800).
The Three Cottages in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
(inv. 2087; Benesch 1973, vol. 4, no. 795), is closest to the
Museum's drawing, as was observed by Hofstede de
Groot (1906), and it has been proposed by Benesch (1955,
vol. 4, p. 211) that they may represent the same locality.
His suggestion gains weight from the fact that the Mu-
seum's drawing is unfinished and was originally planned
to have three cottages, as can be seen by the existence of
a roof for the third one, just as in the study in Stockholm.
However, they would have to be free interpretations of
their setting for this to be true, since they differ in many
minor details. F. Saxl related the Stockholm drawing
to an etching of 1641 (B.226; Kruse and Neumann 1920,
p. 96), and another in the group, the drawing in the
Louvre depicting cottages with a cart (inv. 29029; Be-
nesch 1973, vol. 4, no. 797), was associated with it by
Benesch. This provides a clear basis for dating the Two
Thatched Cottages.
Stylistically, the drawing is filled with vigorous and
animated pen work, creating large volumes as well as
rich and varied effects of texture and surface. The moss
growing on the nearest roof shows Rembrandt's delight
in exploring the visual impact of varied, dense lines at
this moment in his career. As in very few of his other
landscapes, here he almost entirely avoided atmospheric
considerations in favor of the building up of monumen-
tal architectural and textural forms. Appropriately, the
boldness of the quill pen as used by Rembrandt in this
study has suggested to many observers the work of van
Gogh two and a half centuries later.258 DUTCH SCHOOL • REMBRANDT