Rembrandt and his Circle: Insights and Discoveries (Amsterdam Studies in the Dutch Golden Age)

This collection brings together art historians, museum professionals, conservators, and conservation scientists whose work involves Rembrandt van Rijn and associated artists such as Gerrit Dou, Jan Lievens, and Ferdinand Bol. The range of subjects considered is wide: from the presentation of convincing evidence that Rembrandt and his contemporary Frans Hals rubbed elbows in the Amsterdam workshop of Hendrick Uylenburgh to critical reassessments of the role of printmaking in Rembrandt's studio, his competition with Lievens as a landscape painter, his reputation as a collector, and much more. Developed from a series of international conferences devoted to charting new directions in Rembrandt research, these essays illuminate the current state of Rembrandt studies and suggest avenues for future inquiry. "Skilfully chosen and edited by Stephanie Dickey, these papers were presented at the highly successful conferences on Rembrandt and his pupils held at Herstmonceaux Castle in recent years. This is cutting-edge Rembrandt scholarship full of valuable insights and new discoveries." -- Christopher Brown, Professor of Netherlandish Art, University of Oxford " This book] contains a wealth of fresh and lucidly argued insights, not only into Rembrandt's art, thinking and practice: notably, a significant place is reserved for such artists as Jan Lievens, Ferdinand Bol, Gerrit Dou, Johannes van Vliet and, unexpectedly, Frans Hals. In these thoughtful reflections on the artist and his milieu, the reader will find many generally accepted notions critically revised." - Eric Jan Sluijter, emeritus professor of Art History at the University of Amsterdam Contents Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Rembrandt and Frans Hals Painting in the Workshop of Hendrick Uylenburgh 2. Rembrandt and the Germanic Style 3. Rembrandt and the Humanist Ideal of the Universal Painter 4. Curiosity and Desire: Rembrandt’s Collection as Historiographic Barometer 5. Painted Landscapes by Lievens and Rembrandt : The View from Seventeenth-Century Amsterdam Collections 6. Jan Lievens in Antwerp: Three Rediscovered Works 7. Gerrit Dou as a Pupil of Rembrandt 8. A New Painting by Jan van Noordt in Budapest 9. Rembrandt’s First Nude? The Recent Analysis of Susanna and the Elders from Rembrandt’s Workshop 10. Rembrandt’s Head of Christ: Some Technical Observations concerning Matters of Style 11. A Rediscovered Head of John the Baptist on a Platter from Rembrandt’s Studio 12. Rembrandt’s One Guilder Print: Value and Invention in ‘the most beautiful [print] that ever came from the burin of this Master’ 13. Rembrandt, Ferdinand Bol, and Tobit: The Emergence of a Pathosträger 14. Biblical Iconography in the Graphic Work of Rembrandt’s Circle 15. Jan van Vliet and Rembrandt van Rijn: Their Collaboration Reassessed 16. Printmaking among Artists of the Rembrandt School 17. Chain Line Pattern Matching and Rembrandt’s Prints List of Illustrations Bibliography Index Nominum "This book owes its genesis to a series of conferences held in 2009, 2011, and 2013 at Queen's University's Bader International Study Centre at Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, UK." (Acknowledgements)