y difficult to read. Bartsch
misread it as 1636 (op. cit., p. 148). Charles Middleton (_Descriptive
Catalogue of the Etched Work of Rembrandt van Ryn_, London, 1878, p.
299) was the first to identify the date as 1650. This has been accepted
by all modern authorities except George Bioerklund (_Rembrandt's
Etchings: True and False_, Stockholm, 1955, no. 52-A, p. 103) who reads
it as 1652. This seems unlikely to me, not only on the great stylistic
affinity of this print to Rembrandt's unquestioned works of 1650, but
also on the basis of my own reading of the date. The presumed digit "2"
is quite unlike the "2" in Hind's 257 and 263, Rembrandt's only dated
prints of 1652. (_See_ figure 16.)

[4] The general location of this scene, as well as many others
in Rembrandt's oeuvre, has been identified by Frits Lugt (_Mit Rembrandt
in Amsterdam_, Berlin, 1920, pp. 136-140, revised from the original
Dutch, _Wandelingen met Rembrandt in en om Amsterdam_, Amsterdam, 1915;
see also +Lugt+, "Rembrandt's Amsterdam," _Print Collector's Quarterly_,
April 1915, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 111-169, and the attached map).

[5] +Cornelis Hofstede de Groot+, ed., _Die Urkunden ueber
Rembrandt (1575-1721)_, The Hague, 1906. On the lawsuit, see nos. 113,
117, 118, 120-3, 130, and 165. Geertghe was taken to the institution on
July 4, 1650.

[6] On the financial troubles, starting in 1653, see ibid.,
nos. 140 ff.

[7] The exact number is, of course, impossible to determine,
because of many uncertainties of attribution and dating. A. M. Hind, op.
cit., lists 236 prints before the year 1650, which seems as accurate a
count as is possible.

[8] According to Hind, op. cit., the 14 landscapes nos. 237-260
and 262-264 are attributable to the years 1650-52. Of the 27 prints from
these three years, 16 are actually signed and dated by Rembrandt. Nine
of these 16 are landscapes.

[9] E.g., +C. J. Holmes+, "The Development of Rembrandt as an
Etcher," _Burlington Magazine_ (August 1906), vol. 9, no. 41, p. 313.
The well-known story of his having drawn "Six's Bridge" (Hind 209) on
the plate while the servant went for the mustard is also often cited
(e.g., +Hind+, op. cit., p. 95), but if true appears to be atypical.

[10] +Otto Benesch+, _The Drawings of Rembrandt_, 6 vol.,
London, 1954-57.

[11] Benesch no. 1225, Groningen (Netherlands) Museum, inv. no.
210, dated about 1650, the wash added by another hand. This drawing was
formerly in the personal collecti