Stolen Rembrandt "Portrait of the Father" recovered in Serbia

 It's one of the most sought artists. Not only by museums and art collectors, but also by art thieves.
Rembrandt's talent continues to overwhelm and the desire to own his masterpieces continues unrivaled.

 Stolen in 2006, together with three other paintings, from Novi Sad's city museum, Rembrandt's painting "Portrait of the Father" was recovered by the Serbian police in the town of Sremska Mitrovica, 60 km (40 miles) south of Novi Sad.
Four people were arrested in connection with the 2006 case.



 The portrait of Rembrandt's father, painted ca.1630 and measuring 28 x 22.5 cm (11 x 9 in) has been valued at near $4m (€2,8m; £2.7m) and has been stolen twice in the space of 10 years. The painting was previously found in Spain after an earlier theft in 1996.

 The other paintings stolen from the Novi Sad City Museum in 2006 were a Rubens, a piece by Francesco Mola from the 17th century, and another by an unknown German-Dutch artist from the 16th century.
None of the other works has been recovered.

 Last year, police in Belgrade recovered a painting by French Post-Impressionist Cezanne, which thieves had stolen in Switzerland four years earlier.

Woburn Abbey unveils "Portrait of an Old Man" as Rembrandt masterpiece

An oil painting entitled Portrait of an Old Man or The Old Rabbi, dated 1643 and usually hung in a private room of the Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire, home of the 15th Duke and Duchess of Bedford, has been authenticated as a Rembrandt masterpiece.

Regarded as a world authority on Rembrandt, Professor Ernst van de Wetering invited to Woburn Abbey last year to study the portrait. He concluded that the quality and style of work corroborate it could only have been painted by the Dutch old master Rembrandt Harmenszoon Van Rijn.

This painting goes far beyond a study of old age, for as Professor van de Wetering has highlighted: “This painting is one of Rembrandt’s most impressive evocations of dignity in old age. The way the light makes the figure emerge from the dusky space and illuminates the wrinkled skin of the face, and the hands resting on a stick, makes it an outstanding specimen of Rembrandt’s art.”

It is believed that the portrait owned the Dukes of Bedford and a painting in the Gemaldegalerie, Berlin (thought to be a portrait of Rembrandt’s wife, Saskia) were intended as a pair. Both were painted in 1643 on a mahogany panel taken from the same sugar case. This along with the arrangements and drawing similarities, as well as its biblical style: the prominent hands each displaying a ring on the little finger, the black hat with fine decoration and the decorative chains, led to the suggestion from Professor van de Wetering that the pair are depicting the Old Testament biblical story of Boaz and Ruth.

The first written reference to "Portrait of an Old Man" in the Abbey records dates from 1791, indicating it was cleaned that year. Along with two other portraits, it was initially accepted as a Rembrandt, however later studies of the three portraits resulted in uncertainty. Nonetheless the curatorial staff believed that the portrait had virtues that made it stand out as something special.

Woburn Abbey General Manager Jonathan Irby said: “This is a discovery and a fine addition to the Abbey’s wonderful collection of Dutch art.
We are very excited about bringing this exquisite painting into the public eye, especially since visitors will be able to get within a few inches of it. The opportunity to discover a ‘new’ Rembrandt will provide an even more memorable day for our visitors in 2012.”

"Portrait of an Old Man" or "The Old Rabbi," will be on public display from 30th March in the gold and silver vaults of the Woburn Abbey. An unparalleled opportunity to view this ‘new’ Rembrandt up close.

Major Rembrandt retrospective at The Cleveland Museum of Art

From February 19 through May 28, 2012, The Cleveland Museum of Art is showing two parallel exhibitions about the work of Rembrandt yan Rijn: "Rembrandt in America" and "Rembrandt Prints from The Morgan Library & Museum."

The close relation between both, offers the chance for the visitor to better apprehend the facets of Rembrandt, not only as an excellent painter but also as a skilled draughstman and printmaker.

The Rembrandt in America exhibition takes place at the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Exhibition Hall and shows 30 works by Rembrandt, some of them autograph and others thought to be by the artist when they entered American collections but whose attributions can no longer be maintained, and over 20 works by other artists.

In 2006, several exhibitions worldwide celebrated the 400 years of Rembrandt's birth, nonetheless Rembrandt in America brings an indepth perspective about his career as a painter, as well as information about his studio, a broader network of adapters, followers, and copyists.

The public is invited to examine the gradual opinions and methods of scholars and collectors regarding what constituted an autograph Rembrandt painting over a period of more than a century, while at the same time earning skills in connoisseurship and opinions on authenticity thanks to the display of works in small groupings.

Rembrandt in America occurs at a time when scrutiny of “Rembrandt” versus “not Rembrandt” continues to trouble the discipline and affect the art market significantly. As the first major exhibition to take a broader look at the history of Rembrandt collecting and connoisseurship in America and namely in Cleveland, the show also addresses growing interest in the country’s collecting history.



The Cleveland Museum of Art owns four paintings associated with Rembrandt, two acquired in the early 20th century by the Cleveland collectors John L. Severance and Elisabeth Severance Prentiss and two others purchased by the museum in 1950 and 1967.
Each came to the museum attributed to Rembrandt, and all have subsequently been questioned to various degrees, with consensus yet to be reached.

The exhibition, well complemented by its accompanying catalogue, explores the often-controversial issues of collecting and connoisseurship, with a focus on individual paintings where these two related topics intersect.


Rembrandt in America is organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art, the North Carolina Museum of Art, where was on view between October 30, 2011 and January 22, 2012; Raleigh; and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, to where will travel from June 24 through September 16, 2012.



Showing a significant set of works from the Morgan Libray & Museum, considered the largest and finest collection of Rembrandt prints in USA holding nearly 500 impressions by the artist from circa 1626 to about 1661, during which time he executed some 290 plates, the Rembrandt Prints from The Morgan Library & Museum exhibition offers a broad overview about the artist's skills and creativity as printmaker.

Contrary to most of his predecessors, who sought to achieve a standardized representation of the printed image with little variation from impression to impression, Rembrandt was inclined to experiment. He would achieve an array of effects by varying the support and how the plate was inked, so that impressions from the same plate could differ noticeably.

The artist improvised as he worked on the plate, sometimes even changing the concept of the image, adding and subtracting lines, leaving traces of the previous work on the plate, while printing proofs at various stages of the work’s completion. He used different types of paper, and he also printed on vellum, as it is a non-absorbent support.
Rembrandt created tone not only by controlling the amount of ink left on the surface of the plate before printing, but by using drypoint as well, which produces broad, velvety lines. He also successfully integrated drypoint with etched and engraved work in one composition.

Rembrandt’s prints cover a wide range of subjects, including Old and New Testament narratives, landscapes, portraits and self-portraits, nudes, and scenes from daily life as it was common in his time. He sometimes returned to the same theme, allowing for a comparison of a subject executed decades apart, illustrating his artistic development and experimental advances.

The Rembrandt Prints from The Morgan Library & Museum exhibition is a collaboration between the Morgan Library & Museum and the Cleveland Museum of Art.

X-ray scanning reveals hidden Rembrandt unfinished self-portrait

An X-ray fluorescence spectrometry scan, performed at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) light source in Grenoble, France, revealed an unfinished self-portait of Rembrandt, according to specialists.

In roughly 8 hours, the new Maia detector system, mapped the chemical elements in the colours used to paint the "Old Man With a Beard." The detected elements included copper for blue and green, iron for yellow, orange and brown, and mercury for red.

The 15cm x 20cm painting, hidden under the work "Old Man With a Beard", until now attributed to a Rembrandt's pupil, was supposedly painted when the artist was near 24 years of age and his reputation started to develop, leading him to move from Leiden to Amsterdam.



According to art historian Ernst van de Wetering, head of the Rembrandt Research Project, the discovered self-portrait, although not completed and lacking facial details, revealed contour lines of a beardless, seemingly younger male wearing a collar and beret, showing a typical posture characteristic of Rembrandt's early self-portraits.
Similarities with two denoted self-portraits, one of them dated from 1630, are also evident.
The attribution is attested by a 1633 print of the composition, with an inscription stating it was made by Rembrandt.

Authenticating Rembrant's works can reveal itself a complex task, as the old master encouraged his students to copy his works and he himself would perform final corrections in their works.

Between May 1 and July 1, 2012, the Rembrandt House Museum will stage a special exhibition of research into 10 paintings by Rembrandt and his contemporaries using XRF technology, including the investigation results about the unfinished self-portrait mentioned on this article.

Developed by Joris Dik of Delft University and Koen Janssens of Antwerp University, the X-ray fluorescence spectrometry enables the mapping of different chemical elements, revealing pigments in hidden layers of paint and allowing different views of the hidden image.

"Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is showing a major exhibition of works by the acclaimed Dutch old master Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669).

Gathering an exceedingly rare and singular series of seven portraits depicting the head of Christ and complemented by more than fifty related paintings, prints, and drawings, some of them rarely exhibited or lent due to their light-sensitivity and fragility, the "Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus" exhibition invites the viewer to grasp the religious, historic, and artistic significance of these works, while at the same time witnessing Rembrandt's iconoclasm and his search for a meditative ideal.

These bust-length portraits portraits of Jesus mark a new step in the history of Christian art, which had previously relied on rigidly copied prototypes for Christ, by making use of a human model.

The "Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus" exhibition can be visited until October 30, 2011.

Stolen Rembrandt "The Judgement" Recovered

A 17th century 6x11 inches quill pen and black ink drawing by Rembrandt and sign on its back, was recovered by the authorities in a San Fernando Valley church, about 20 miles from the hotel lobby from which it had been stolen. The church's name wasn't released.
In a statement, officials said that an anonymous tip led officers to "the Judgment," in Encino, Calif.
Nobody is in custody, but the investigations continue.

Included in a Linearis Institute sponsored private exhibit at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Marina del Rey, California, "The Judgement" had been stolen over the weekend between 22:20 and 22:35 local time, while one of the curators was momentarily distracted by someone who seemed interested in buying another piece.
It's not certain if that person was involved but the authorities believe that at least two people participated in the theft.
The drawing was being displayed on an easel or wooden stand and was apparently not secured.



Valued at $250,000, "The Judgement" seems to depict a court scene with a man prostrating himself before a judge.
A Linearis Institute employee attested the authenticity of the recovered drawing.

Rembrandt and his Circle. Master drawings from the Frits Lugt Collection

The Dutch cultural centre Institut Néerlandais, Paris, has put together nearly one hundred of the finest drawings by Rembrandt and his circle from the famous Frits Lugt Collection.

"Rembrandt and his circle" exhibition shows twenty drawings by Rembrandt and a selection of the best work from his pupils and contemporaries, including Ferdinand Bol, Govert Flinck, Lambert Doomer and Nicolaes Maes.

The drawings are shown in frames which range from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century from the Netherlands but, France, Italy, Spain and Germany, which have been recently restored especially for this occasion. Oak, walnut, poplar, ebony, pear, tortoise-shell and gold leaves are among the used framing materials.

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606 -1669) produced a considerable number of drawings with a great variety of subjects and techniques.
He would lodge his apprentices in his studio, where he taught numerous students.
These students had usually began their studies under the instruction of other artists before they came to Rembrandt, namely Carel Fabritius, Ferdinand Bol, Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, Samuel van Hoogstraten and Willem Drost.



Managed by the Fondation Custodia, a partner of the Institut Néerlandais in Paris, the private collection of Frederik (Frits) Johannes Lugt (1884-1970) is regarded as one of the twentieth century’s greatest private collections of Rembrandt drawings and etchings, together with a coherent collection of works by artists in Rembrandt’s circle, including pupils and followers.

Lugt's collection includes finished works as well as sketches in black chalk and sanguine, some of them connected to paintings, many of them produced as exercises or for personal pleasure, and others likely to have been used as models for Rembrandt’s pupils. Pen and ink, washes, brown ink, sanguine, black chalk and gouache were some of the mediums used by Rembrandt.



Peter Schatborn, former head of the Rijksprentenkabinet, the national print room
at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and expert on 17th century drawings, in particular by Rembrandt, spent these last ten years studying the Frits Lugt’s collection of drawings by Rembrandt and his circle.
This exaustive research led to new attributions; thus twenty-five of
the drawings changed authors, some of whom had not yet been represented in the collection.

Schatborn's annotations have been recently published in the catalogue raisonné of the Frits Lugt Collection and this exhibition acknowledges his work by presenting and explaining them to the public in an exhibition room focused on this thorough research.
A free of charge lecture by Peter Schatborn will take place Tuesday 13 September 2011 at 7 pm (reservation is required).

The "Rembrandt and his Circle" exhibition (Rembrandt et son Cercle) can be visited until the 2nd of October 2011 at the Institute Néerlandais, 121 rue de Lille, Paris.