Rembrandt and Experts

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

This morning in London, Christie's has invited the press to unveil a painting by Rembrandt that will be sold on December 8. This is sensible: the market for ancient art has a reputation of being little affected by the financial crisis.

It is a half-length portrait of a man, painted in 1658. It had not been seen publicly since 1970 and has not participated in the major exhibition made by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in 2006 to celebrate the 400 th anniversary of the birth of the artist. It is estimated £ 18 million.

Rembrandt is the best studied artist in the world. Under the name of Rembrandt Research Project, a multidisciplinary team has been working since 1968 to authenticate or refute all the works that could be attributed to the master. This team, which was renewed several times, includes art historians and scientists.

Among the scientific methods used, we first think of the X-ray, of course. Do not neglect the dendrochronology, which allows to date the felling of the oak trees whose panels were used by the master. Historians, meanwhile, compared the artworks together by considering a consistency of style in order to separate the works of the master from those of his employees.

This work sponsored by the University of Amsterdam is extremely important. Thanks to these pioneers the ancient art has become the most exciting area of artistic expertise.

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

Small precision now that the official press release from Christie's is available on the web: the artwork for sale is on canvas, 107 x 87 cm.

My comments on dendrochronology do not apply to this work.

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

The release by Christie's on Twitter expresses the essential: Rembrandt sells for £ 20.2M : the world auction record for a Rembrandt and the 4th highest price for an old master painting at auction.

The quoted price includes the premium.

I would add that this Rembrandt was important but not to the point of being described as historic. It is therefore quite understandable that it has not exceeded its estimate.

Here is the image of the artwork shared before sale by the New York Times.