Rembrandt's many landscape drawings chronicle his walks in and around Amsterdam. Their topographical accuracy often makes it possible to identify the exact spot where they were drawn. This sheet was made on the elevated defensive rampart of the city. Only the rooftops of certain houses to the right are visible. The windmill whimsically called the Smeerpot (Grease Pot) faces away from the rampart at right, while at left Rembrandt depicted a long row of low buildings that served as a rope factory. -- Exhibition Label, from "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection"
Numbered on verso in graphite at lower center, "51 HoleG. 845".
Watermark: Double circle surmounted by three crosses (crown), fragment.
Flinck, Nicolaes Anthonis, 1646-1723, former owner.
Devonshire family, former owner.
Currier, Michael S., former owner.
Thaw, Eugene Victor, former owner.
Thaw, Clare, former owner.
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY, "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection", 2017. Exh. cat., no. 324, repr.
The Thaw Collection : Master Drawings and Oil Sketches : Acquisitions since 1994. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 2002, no. 6, repr.
From Leonardo to Pollock: Master drawings from the Morgan Library. New York: Morgan Library, 2006, cat. no. 44, p. 96-97.
100 Master drawings from the Morgan Library & Museum. München : Hirmer, 2008, no. 56, repr. [Jennifer Tonkovich and Jane Shoaf Turner]