The Annunciation to the Shepherds

This impressive print, deemed a major work by Vaillant („Hauptblat“), reproduces a work by Nicolaes Berchem (1620/21, Haarlem -1683, Amsterdam), a leading representative of Dutch painting. Berchem was Vaillant’s contemporary; he worked in Haarlem and Amsterdam, where Vaillant lived, and they probably knew each other. The painting has been missing since the late 1950s, when it was sold on the art market. The first-quality rich imprint of the first state corroborates the mastery that Vaillant achieved in mezzotint.