Etching - signed by Rembrandt

Drawing A55 now deattributed

Detail of Rembrandt's etching B194 for which the drawing opposite (A55) was once presumed to be preparatory study

Standing Male Nude, A55, once attributed to Rembrandt until Otto Benesch demoted it to 'School of Rembrandt' because he found it to be "more descriptive and less vigorous" than the drawings he chose to accept as by Rembrandt. To explain away the extreme similarity between the two works he is driven to the expedient of suggesting that Rembrandt must have copied this "excellent student work" for his etching! Konstam has no difficulty in accepting this excellent drawing as a Rembrandt, pointing out that the etching (signed and dated by Rembrandt) is yet more descriptive.