In 1904, Johannes Hage, a landowner in Nivå, bought a genuine Rembrandt entitled Portrait of a 39-year Old Woman from 1632, which can be seen today at the Nivaagaard Collection. Historically, it has been suggested several times that the work may be a counterpart to the same artist’s male portrait entitled Portrait of a 40-year Old Man, which belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The two works previously belonged to the same private collection, from which they were sold in 1801, and there are several indications that the two works were once a pair.
Rembrandt (1606-1669), Portrait of a 40-year-Old Man and Portrait of a 39-year Old Woman, 1632
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York / Nivaagaard Collection, Nivå
Based on the Nivaagaard Collection’s current research project in the Dutch Baroque collection, with Dr. Angela Jager, RKD-Netherlands Institute for Art History, and Rembrandt specialist Prof. Dr. Jørgen Wadum as special consultant, a number of studies have been launched to solve the mystery of the connection between the two works.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has also agreed to lend their work to the Nivaagaard Collection in 2024, making it possible to see the two Rembrandts together again for the first time in 223 years.
International seminar
The focus exhibition opens with an international research seminar on 2 September 2024 where the results of the extensive technical research will be presented and compared with the observations that art historians can only make in front of the two works side by side in real life.