Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

We purchased it at auction in early 1974 in Chicago.

APPRAISER

And do you recall what you paid for it back in 1974?

GUEST

$1,000. The title of it is "Christ Before Pilate."

APPRAISER

Yep.

GUEST

It's one of Rembrandt's largest etchings.

APPRAISER

You're absolutely right. It's an etching by Rembrandt, it's "Christ Before Pilate," and he started this large etching in 1635.

GUEST

Yeah.

APPRAISER

And completed it in 1636. Now, you can see down here, etched in the lower margin is the name, the artist's name, Rembrandt. And then you have the date, 1636.

GUEST

The cum privile.

APPRAISER

Yes.

GUEST

It's my understanding that Rembrandt often wrote things in Latin.

APPRAISER

You're referring to the inscription down in the center here.

GUEST

"With privilege"?

APPRAISER

"With privilege." It was a tradition for print makers from the 15th century onward to put that on their etchings, their engravings, basically in honor and deference to the ruler of the area. It was an early form of copyrighting. If you put that on your image, on your etching...

GUEST

Okay.

APPRAISER

"With the privilege of so and so," or dedicating something to so and so, it was thought that that... the local ruler, the monarch, would then protect your image. This is one of Rembrandt's largest etchings, and up to this point, it was the largest etching that he made. There's actually a painting by Rembrandt in the National Gallery in London of this very scene. So he was essentially reproducing himself in this etching from a painting that he'd made a year earlier. He chose to depict one of the more dramatic scenes from the Bible. It's Pilate deciding Christ's fate, basically.

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

And it's very theatrical. Here you have Pilate. You have Christ standing up right there in the center of the scene. All these figures onlooking. And it's believed that Rembrandt worked on the central part of this composition, the figures in the center, and the outlying work was done in his studio by workshop assistants. By friends of his who were also talented etchers. So it's a collaborative etching, if you will.

GUEST

Yes.

APPRAISER

That's how scholarship lands on this print. Look at this figure right here, with the plumed cap on. That's Rembrandt himself right there.

GUEST

Oh, that doesn't surprise me.

APPRAISER

It's a portrait of Rembrandt. Putting himself...

GUEST

Right smack in the center.

APPRAISER

...right in the center of the composition. The dating of this is important, because there were impressions pulled from the plate after Rembrandt's death. We're able to look at the back of the sheet. And if I shine the light on it there, you can see those letters-- that's a watermark right in the center.

GUEST

Yeah.

APPRAISER

The letters are "IHS." It's the name of Christ watermark, and that's a 17th-century watermark. It's a 17th-century paper, which tells us that this was printed in Rembrandt's lifetime.

GUEST

Really?

APPRAISER

I'm happy to tell you that if this came up at auction today, it would be estimated in the neighborhood of $60,000 to $90,000. And impressions like this have sold upwards of $100,000.

GUEST

Oh... wow. Oh, my goodness-- that's wonderful.

APPRAISER

Yes.

GUEST

Gives me the goosebumps. (laughs)