Rembrandt

Book Review: The Unwavering Gaze — Fabritius and Donna Tartt’s “The Goldfinch”

January 23, 2014
Posted in , ,

In Donna Tartt’s much-lauded third novel, Fabritius’ painting “The Goldfinch” and the fleeting nature of, well, everything comes together for a brief and shining moment.

Read More

Visual Arts: Bureaucratic Vandalism and the Survival of Sheer Excellence

September 22, 2012
Posted in ,

In order to pay tribute to the supreme Frits Lugt and his Fondation Custodia — and to protest the announced closing of the Institut Néerlandais with which it is joined — the column describes an example of Lugt’s collecting genius.

Read More

Visual Arts Feature: Rembrandt, Rubens, the Beau Sancy, and the Jew

May 22, 2012
Posted in ,

The history of the Beau Sancy took me back to the years around 1640, when it passed into and out of the orbit of the greatest Netherlandish artists of the day, the Dutchman Rembrandt and the Brabander Rubens.

Read More

Visual Arts: Chopped liver at Woburn Abbey

April 4, 2012
Posted in ,

The world press has announced that a painting of an old man in Woburn Abbey, England, has been newly discovered to be an authentic Rembrandt. Gary Schwartz is incensed that the abbey is practicing such flagrant spin, and that the press feeds it to us so uncritically.

Read More

Visual Arts: In Rembrandt’s Footsteps

June 15, 2011
Posted in ,

How many painters were taught by Rembrandt? How big was his school? Well, that is a matter for debate — to echo Donald Rumsfeld, there are the known unknowns. Then there are the unknown unknowns

Read More

Visual Arts: The Transparent Connoisseur 2

April 17, 2010
Posted in ,

The issues might seem highly technical and of interest only to specialists, but I think they do matter. In the first place they matter as a corrective to our understanding of Rembrandt, but they also matter for the critical insights they offer into the techniques and practices of scholarship. By Gary Schwartz Earlier columns were…

Read More

Visual Arts: Rembrandt’s Imagination

January 23, 2010
Posted in ,

I envision Rembrandt with chalk or pen always at hand, sketching from life and imagination constantly. This is also how he taught his pupils, who like him also produced numerous drawings related and unrelated to paintings or prints. Why do so many experts disagree? By Gary Schwartz In an earlier column I illustrated a large…

Read More

Visual Arts: At Rembrandt’s Core, The Drawings

January 16, 2010
Posted in , ,

How many drawings by Rembrandt are around? More than many experts admit. The issue is not just a quibble over numbers. It has far-reaching consequences for our reconstruction of Rembrandt’s working method and our understanding of his art. The showdown is coming at a conference on the artist at the J. Paul Getty Museum in…

Read More

Visuals Arts: Rembrandt and I in Oman

October 17, 2009
Posted in ,

It cannot be said that the average Omani was waiting for an exhibition of Rembrandt etchings. By Gary Schwartz “Frankincense from Oman and paintings by Rembrandt were both part of the good life in the 17th century.” That unlikely quotation is from the script of a film that I wrote and presented this summer to…

Read More

Visual Arts: The Cotswolds Rembrandt

November 17, 2007
Posted in ,

em>The initial reactions by Rembrandt specialists to the Cotswolds painting were nearly all marked by caution.

Read More

Recent Posts