Rembrandt or not Rembrandt?
His style was widely imitated, even in his own time; now, a show at the Met guides us through the maze of attribution problems
- By Henry Adams
- Smithsonian magazine, December 1995, Subscribe
Rembrandt studied painting briefly but set off on his own at an early age, creating an innovative and memorable style that was much imitated by his admirers and students. As a result, a large number of paintings that seem to be Rembrandts may indeed not be. At one time, scholars counted as many as 630 paintings in Rembrandt's oeuvre; now that figure is closer to 300. Confronting this issue of attribution head-on, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City has organized an unusual exhibition titled "Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt," on view through January 7, 1996.
The exhibition includes 55 paintings in the Met's collection by Rembrandt, his pupils and followers, plus x-rays, autoradiographs and other technical evidence that is used to see under the surface of a painting and help scholars determine its authorship.
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