Museum information
A surprise exhibition, not publicized before the opening day, consisting of only two Rembrandt self-portraits. One is a painting from the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, which the Rembrandt Research Project rejected but now accepts as a ‘transformed’ Rembrandt. The other is a newly discovered panel that had also been transformed by another hand, but which was restored in stages.
The painting is entitled Self-portrait with shaded eyes. It is signed and dated 1634. The earliest owner, on the basis of wax seals on the reverse of the panel, is identified as a Leipzig banker named Christian Gottlob Frege (1715-1781) or his son or grandson of the same name. “From 1966 in the possession of Paul Page, Moulins, France and his descendants.”
Catalogue
The launching of the exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue (and special issue of the Kroniek van het Rembrandthuis) by Ernst van de Wetering, leader of the RRP: Rembrandts verborgen zelfportretten, Amsterdam (Museum het Rembrandthuis) 2002.
ISBN 90-9016602-5.
The text is a preliminary version of the article on the painting to appear in vol. 4 of the Corpus of Rembrandt paintings.