Three Rembrandt works required by the Mauritshuis museum

In The Hague, the Netherlands, 11 paintings from Rembrandt (1606-1669) are exhibited at the Mauritshuis museum. It is one of the most important collections of the Dutch artist. There are also 7 tables acquired as Rembrandt works, but withdrawn from the collection or become a questionable subjects. Three of these paintings were recently examined in the museum’s restoration workshop. The results have just been published.

On the three paintings, two – Self -portrait with a gorgerin (1629) and Trony of an old man (1630) – have been excluded as authentic acts of Rembrandt, while doubts remain for the third, Study of an old man (1655-1660).

Acquired by Guillaume V in 1768, the authenticity of theSelf -portrait with a gorgerin had already been questioned in 1999 after the discovery of a preparatory drawing under painting, an unprecedented element at Rembrandt. The new research confirmed that it was a copy carried out in the master’s workshop around 1629. Among the possible students, Gerrit Dou, his first known student in Leiden, is the most likely author. The original is kept in Nuremberg.

The second table, Trony of an old manformerly attributed to Rembrandt and considered as a portrait of his father, had been acquired by the former director of the Musée de la Haye, Abraham Bredius, in 1892. But an authentic drawing by Rembrandt’s father does not seem to correspond to the painting model, which would rather be a trony, that is to say a character study, and not a family portrait. In addition, a technical analysis revealed that the bottom of the painting was repainted in the 18th century with a pigment, the verditer, which Rembrandt did not use at the time of creation, around 1630. The work is therefore probably that of an employee of the workshop.

The third work, Study of an old manacquired by the Mauritshuis museum in 1891, had been identified as a portrait of the artist’s brother. Although she was signed “Rembrandt Fecit” (Rembrandt made), the experts recalled that he was common for a master to sign the table of his students in order to facilitate their sale. However, the quality of this work does not reach the level of the master: “The eyes are fuzzy, the nose not very defined. We see lines marked in terms of chin, such as corrections made during painting. It was undoubtedly Rembrandt who corrected the work of his student ”said the museum. But doubts persist, whether it be the work of a student, a collaborator or Rembrandt himself.

The three paintings will be exhibited to the public in the gallery of the Mauritshuis museum from mid-July. The museum, created in 1822, welcomed no less than eight hundred Dutch and Flemish paintings made between the 15th and the 18th century, including the painting the young girl with a pearl, made around 1665 by the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675).