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.
