Rembrandt’s new etching found Automatic translate

The work of the greatest artist of the world for centuries has been hidden in the pantry of the National Gallery of Scotland, considered a copy of a masterpiece. But now Rembrandt’s rare etching has taken its place of honor in the gallery’s exposition thanks to the keen eye of its curator, Dr. Tico Seifert, who suspected that the work was original, Arthistorynews reports.

Photo: National Gallery of Scotland

A portrait of an Amsterdam preacher, Jan Cornelis Silvius, painted with rare red ink, was created on an etching plate in 1633. It is believed that this is the only copy of this work, which is attributed to the work of Rembrandt, despite the fact that in fact the image was printed after his death.

The National Gallery of Scotland has about 100 prints from copper plates created by an artist who, during his lifetime, was better known for his etchings and prints, rather than paintings. But this etching, which was previously listed in the catalog as a copy of the portrait, is now considered the most valuable exhibit in the collection. The studies conducted in the Edinburgh Gallery helped establish the authenticity of the work, which confirmed the right of this work to be on a par with such creations of the most qualified printer in the history of art as “Self Portrait” in 1657 and “Woman in Bed” in 1646.

The newly opened etching, which costs hundreds of thousands of pounds, depicts a relative of Saskia van Eilenburh, who married the artist in 1634. He was the godfather of their first child, which proves the closeness of Jan Silvius and Rembrandt. The venerable preacher sits, reflecting, on his Bible.

Dr. Tiko Seifert, senior curator of the department of North European art, said that he immediately became interested in stumbling upon this work in a box with dozens of copies of the artist’s works. Further research by experts on Rembrandt’s work in Amsterdam, including the authenticity of the imprinted plate, proved that the portrait of Jan Silvius is the only existing imprint in red ink.

“This kind of plate was created using a chemical process, when the artist first polished the plate, varnished it, and then created a pattern, scratching the varnish with a very sharp thin needle. Then the plate was lowered into a container with acid, so in fact, it was more a chemical process than a mechanical one. Then, wet paper was placed on top of the plate and the plate was passed through a press. The difference between this work and the rest is that it is made using red ink. When I contacted colleagues in Amsterdam to find out about other existing works, red ink prints, which are extremely rare, to my great surprise and joy, they said that this print is unique, ”said Seyfert.

“In fact, this work appeared after the death of Rembrandt. He died in 1669, and the print was most likely made in the next century. You can see that the plate was clearly being repaired since it was reused. After all, such copper plates were extremely valuable at that time, since they could be used even after the death of the artist who created them, ”the curator explains. And he adds: “Red prints were very fashionable at the beginning of the 18th century, we believe that our work should be dated precisely to this time. The most important thing is that when it was created, it was the original plate created by Rembrandt that was used, which is proved by studies of the way it was made. ”

Recently, seven new volumes from the Hollstein series have been published in Amsterdam on Rembrandt’s engravings. The curators of the State Museum (Rijksmuseum) Erik Hinterding and Jaco Rutgers traveled almost the whole world to study more than 18,000 existing prints with 315 etchings created by the artist between 1625 and 1665.

In the course of their research, they made some unexpected discoveries about the design of plates and the etching technique used by Rembrandt, so that it is now possible to accurately determine whether the print was made by the artist himself or whether it was recreated on the basis of his work after his death. The study shed light on all stages of the artist’s work on etchings and their sequence. Hinterding and Rutgers accurately determined that the young Rembrandt cut etchings, which he was not completely satisfied with, and then reused their parts. A similar case had previously been documented, but only one that did not give a complete picture of whether this was a common practice or an exception.

The new edition in seven volumes weighs about 10 kg and costs 330 euros. The Hollstein series itself is a detailed catalog of etchings and prints by Dutch artists who lived from 1450 to 1700. At the moment, there are already 139 volumes of this series, the first of which was published in 1949.

Anna Sidorova © Gallerix.ru