ArtBohemia

In the 1600s Rembrandt created his famed etchings, noted world-wide for their delicacy of tone and intricacy of detail. In Rembrandt's later years these etching were in great demand by collectors. At Rembrandt's death in 1669, many of his plates had been cancelled or destroyed. However, there remained an important body of approximately 100 plates which were still capable of producing fine quality impressions. For nearly a hundred years (1669-1767) the whereabouts of the bulk of his plates seemed shrouded in mystery. Over time (1785-1906) some of Rembrandt's plates began to pass through various hands, beginning with C.H.Watelet, then Pierre Francois Basan, Auguste Jean, afterward in 1906 to Alvin Beaumont together with Michel Bernard.
By the 1800's, Rembrandt's surviving plates were very worn and flat. Amand-Durand (1831-1905), a noted engraver of that time, decided to remedy this with his own skill. He researched and studied those pieces available in collections, and then spent the major part of his life exactly duplicating Rembrandt's images onto copper plates, achieving great quality through his own technical abilities. He published a complete set of very fine reproductions of all the Rembrandt etchings.
These recreations of Rembrandt's work were called Amand-Durand's after Rembrandt. Their incredible clarity and exactness was also achieved because Amand-Durand used as his guide, not the worn and flat plates, but the first and second state etchings of the master's original works.
References indicate that Armand-Durand's skill was already known to experts of the 19th and early 20th centuries. George Duplessis, Conservator of the cabinet de Estampes in 1855, so appreciated the genius of Durand that he had his work published in books which now belong to the Bibliotheque Nationale in France. It was Amand-Durand who was used as master etcher in such books by Duplessis as Histoire del la Gravure, an anthology of European engravings so valuable that it is kept under lock and key in most noted art libraries. Thus, what we get is a master duplicating a master 200 years later.
Durand, like Rembrandt often did, sold his etchings for book illustrations until his death in 1905. At that time they were purchased by the Dominique Vincent family, who continued to sell them as book engravings to Bibliotheque Nationale and the Louvre Museum as wonderful and exact duplications of the original states of Rembrandt's etchings. Sporadically, though, they would also sell them to interested private parties and dealers, and it was this that caused whispered storied to spread among the entire community!
It is said among art circles, although quietly, that in the early 1900s a number of these Amand-Durand after Rembrandt etchings did find their way into famous hands and collections much to the dismay of many. This was the rumour floating around until a certain discovery in the early 20th century. In early spring of 1985, a noted American art dealer doing research in Europe on the availability of Rembrandt etchings, stumbled upon some so questionably perfect that he decided to dig even further. Intense study revealed that these were, in fact the noted Amand-Durand etchings that had been alluded to for so many years!
After of determination he located the French family Dominique Vincent who had been completely unaware of the flurry they were inadvertently creating with the prints.
Both the Louvre and the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris had been purchasing these etchings to enable the French to see the incredible story behind them. The American dealer, in turn, purchased all 348 original copper plates so the American public could also see this incredible story… of how a noted craftsman through his skill and dedication to the great master Rembrandt, created work of such quality that repercussions were felt throughout the entire art community.
347 Plates exist of which each subject is individually hand pulled. The Reference Nos. Refer to the Bartsch Catalog and the Dover Catalog of "The Complete Etchings of Rembrandt."