The copperplate was in the auction by Pieter de Haan (1767, lot 60), where sold to J.Sluyter for Fl 3,10. It later came in the possession of John M’Creary who used it for the 200 etchings (1816) and was then used by Lewis (1819 and 1822) and Kay (1826) in the reprints. It has not been seen since and is probably not anymore in existence.
According to Seidlitz the plate was at some moment in the hands of Jacob Houbraken.

This is the last etching made by Rembrandt, just four years before his death. Van der Linden was a friend of Nicolaas Tulp. He became a professor of Medicine in Leyden in 1651 and died in 1664. Shortly after his death Rembrandt was asked by publisher Daniel van Gaesbeecq to make a portrait as the frontispiece for Van der Linden’s edition of Hippocrates. However, it was never used for that purpose, possibly because the contract, negotiated by Rembrandt’s son Titus, called for an engraving instead of an etching. After the trial prints the plate was too worn to be used for printing a book. Van der Linden initially lived in Franeker where he presented the town a Botanical Garden. It may be the reason Rembrandt pictured plants in the background.

Since the sitter was already dead at the time Rembrandt got this commission, he used a painting by Abraham van den Tempel dated 1660, now in the Mauritshuis.

NH lists seven states, the final three not by Rembrandt. The 5th state is a ‘new’ one. Most other authors list six states, White-Boon five, Nowell-Usticke seven. From his 6th state there are later impressions by Watelet.
In the 1st state (NH, WB, BB, R682, NU) there is no shading on the bough of the trees, upper left.
In the 2nd state (NH, WB, BB, R683, NU) the foliage is shaded with right-to-left diagonals.
In the 3rd state (NH, WB, R684-685) fine shading is added to the columns supporting the balustrade, now standing out clearly from the background. Crosshatching added to the sleeve, making it darker than the archway.
In the 4th state (NH, WB, R686, NU) diagonal right-to-left shading is added between the lower arm and the lower edge.
In the 5th state (NH only) two dots are added in the upper right corner.
In the 6th state (NH/5th state WB) Watelet has retouched the plate. The left border of the gown left of the book is sharply defined. The weak spot at the centre of the right margin is again covered with crosshatching.
In the 7th state (R688/NU) the plate is badly worn and very pale. The horizontal shading in the boughs at the left top is almost worn out. According to Nowell-Usticke the exact sequence of the later states is very confusing.

Of the 3rd state of NU only one copy is known, in the Albertina.
Many impressions of the 4th state are on Japanese paper.

In the 1st, 2nd and 3rd state: Foolscap with seven-pointed collar with cm PCMB (c. 1665).
In the 5th state: Seven Provinces (> 1665).
In the 6th state: Strasbourg lily.

H 268, BB 65-1, G 244, M 167, Mz 81, RA 681-688, Cl 261, W 266, Bl 181, Du 264, CD 225
Hinterding 2008, p. 463-466;

NH: 6th state of VII/WB: 5th and final state.
A good, but later impression with the blank lower margin intact.
Sheet 177 x 110/109 mm, margins of 1 mm at the top, 2 and 3 mm at both sides, 3 mm at the bottom, apart from the 47 mm margin as part of the plate (+8%).
No watermark, horizontal chain lines at approx. 24 mm.

Rembrandt in Zwart-Wit, Westfries Museum – Hoorn, Het Markiezenhof – Bergen op Zoom, Stedelijk Museum Zutphen, Het Hannemahuis – Harlingen, Jan ten Horne Museum – Weert, Stadsmuseum Harderwijk, March 2013-August 2015;
Rembrandt in Black & White: Schloβ Britz (Berlin), November 2015 – February 2016;
Rembrandt, de fotograaf, Westfries Museum (Hoorn), June 2024 – January 2025;