Bartsch 194; Hind 222;

‘The New Hollstein, 2013, no. 233, fifth state (of VIII) , possibly by Claude-Henri
Watelet, before the horizontals added to the lower part of the mount above the
lower part of his outstretched leg; with vertical lines added to the blank patch on
the seated model’s right shoulder.

In the foreground we see two studies of the same young man: standing and sitting.
In the background of a typical Dutch kitchen with an open fireplace, very lightly
etched, we see a woman teaching a child to walk with the aid of a baby walker.
This print can be seen as a metaphorical exhortation to ‘keep trying’: the child
must learn to walk and the artist must practise constantly to master his art.
It is very rare to have two independent different subjects, except in study-sheets.
In 1646, Rembrandt executed three studies of young males only wearing a loin
cloth (White-Boon 193/194/196).

It could well be that the part with woman and child were in fact Geertje Dircks
and his than 1,5 years old son Titus at home, etched as early as 1643. A few years
later the study of two young boys could have been added onto this very plate.