REMBRANDT VAN RIJN Christ Preaching (La Petit Tombe). Etching and drypoint, circa 1652. 155x208 mm; 6x8¼ inches, narrow margins. Usticke's first state (of 3), before the Watelet retouching. Arms of Amsterdam watermark (Ash/Fletcher 1, they date most impressions of various subjects by Rembrandt with this watermark from the 1650s). Ex-collection Adam Gottlieb Thiermann (Lugt 2434, verso); and Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Lugt 1606 and 2482, verso). A superb, well-inked "white sleeve" impression with very strong contrasts and no sign of wear.Though technically less complex and with less of the grandeur of Christ Healing the Sick (Hundered Guilder Print), circa 1643-49 (see lot 170), this etching depicts a similar subject and is commonly seen as being among the most important of Rembrandt's New Testament scenes. The less formal approach to the subject is evident in the figure of the doodling child sprawled out on the floor below Christ and by the inclusion of just a pair of sandaled feet at the extreme lower right corner. Bartsch 67; Biörklund 52-2; Hollstein (White and Boon) 67.