DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68073#0240
214
OLD WORLD MASTERS
SIMEON AND MARY PRESENTING THE INFANT
CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE.
Rembrandt van Rijn
(1606-1669).
Collection of
Mr. Nils B. Herslojf.
This picture is interesting for two reasons. One, that it belonged
to Horace Walpole and hung for many years in Strawberry Hill; and
the other, that it is a recently discovered Rembrandt.
It would seem from the present documents that the picture is not
many stages away from the painter’s studio. In a case like this, it is
best to tell the story of the identification of this Strawberry Hill pic-
ture with the Rembrandt studio picture in the words of those most
concerned in the matter.
But first let us read the interesting analysis written by the Rem-
brandt specialist, Dr. Jan Veth, author of the Life and Art of Rem-
brandt, published on the commemoration of the 300th anniversary of
his birth. This essay is dated Amsterdam, August 2, 1916, when this
picture from the Walpole Collection was discovered and sent to Hol-
land.
Dr. Veth speaking:
“A rather large-sized picture, about 39^ x 31X inches, has re-
cently been imported from England, a picture which one recognized
without any difficulty as being a late work by Rembrandt. This un-
known work was at first thought to be in a rather dilapidated condi-
tion. Evidently long ago it had been relined by an unskilled hand,
leaving the canvas badly wrinkled in places. These have been easily
removed, the picture slightly restored and apart from a few local
blemishes (nowhere occurring in the vital parts) the beautifully
crackled and original coat of paint appears unimpaired. Many a
museum piece giving the impression of being in a perfect state of
preservation is, in reality, much less intact than this Rembrandt.
“The figure of Simeon in the picture reminds us to a certain extent
of the figure of Homer in the Collection of Dr. Bredius, but the han-
dling of the paint is more certain, the head firmer and more plastic.
OLD WORLD MASTERS
SIMEON AND MARY PRESENTING THE INFANT
CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE.
Rembrandt van Rijn
(1606-1669).
Collection of
Mr. Nils B. Herslojf.
This picture is interesting for two reasons. One, that it belonged
to Horace Walpole and hung for many years in Strawberry Hill; and
the other, that it is a recently discovered Rembrandt.
It would seem from the present documents that the picture is not
many stages away from the painter’s studio. In a case like this, it is
best to tell the story of the identification of this Strawberry Hill pic-
ture with the Rembrandt studio picture in the words of those most
concerned in the matter.
But first let us read the interesting analysis written by the Rem-
brandt specialist, Dr. Jan Veth, author of the Life and Art of Rem-
brandt, published on the commemoration of the 300th anniversary of
his birth. This essay is dated Amsterdam, August 2, 1916, when this
picture from the Walpole Collection was discovered and sent to Hol-
land.
Dr. Veth speaking:
“A rather large-sized picture, about 39^ x 31X inches, has re-
cently been imported from England, a picture which one recognized
without any difficulty as being a late work by Rembrandt. This un-
known work was at first thought to be in a rather dilapidated condi-
tion. Evidently long ago it had been relined by an unskilled hand,
leaving the canvas badly wrinkled in places. These have been easily
removed, the picture slightly restored and apart from a few local
blemishes (nowhere occurring in the vital parts) the beautifully
crackled and original coat of paint appears unimpaired. Many a
museum piece giving the impression of being in a perfect state of
preservation is, in reality, much less intact than this Rembrandt.
“The figure of Simeon in the picture reminds us to a certain extent
of the figure of Homer in the Collection of Dr. Bredius, but the han-
dling of the paint is more certain, the head firmer and more plastic.