“Krude Imitation” turns out to be a real Rembrandt
A visitor looks at The Creation of Jesus on the Cross by Rembrandt on display at Museum Bredius in The Hague on November 3, 2022. – The museum discovered that the oil sketch was by… Rembrandt, despite the claim by several art historians that it must have been by an imitator. (Photo by Koen van Weel / ANP / AFP) / Netherlands OUT
Quelle: AFP/KOEN VAN WEEL
A painting was bought a hundred years ago by the Bredius Museum in The Hague and thought to be a real Rembrandt. However, art experts would dismiss the picture as a cheap copy. Since then it has been lying forgotten in a corner of the museum – until now it turned out that it is real after all.
Nfter a painting was forgotten in a corner of the Bredius Museum in The Hague for a century, art experts have now determined it is a real Rembrandt. The image was previously considered a “crude imitation,” according to the Guardian.
It was long believed that the image came from a follower of Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn. He is known for pictures like “The Night Watch” and “The Return of the Prodigal Son”.
The Bredius Museum announced on Thursday that the picture actually came from Rembrandt. This could be determined by new technical possibilities. Johanneke Verhave, who restored the painting, said she was “convinced by the quality of the details”.
She studied the artwork alongside Jeroen Giltaij, the former Chief Curator of Old Paintings. He rediscovered the work in a book about Rembrandt. “Just a few broad brushstrokes” then convinced him that the picture was in fact by Rembrandt. Giltaij reviewed the sketch for his large book of Rembrandt paintings, which is said to contain all 684 works by the Dutch master. “When I looked at it, I thought Bredius was right. I think that’s actually a Rembrandt,” he said.
The picture was bought in 1921 by the then art curator Abraham Bredius. He was also convinced that it was a Rembrandt original. Over the years, however, art experts had downplayed the work as a “crude imitation”.
