Rembrandt: The Late Works, National Gallery
Rembrandt: The Late Works, National Gallery, London, offers a rare opportunity to see one of the most arresting Old Masters of all time
Detail from Rembrandt, Self Portrait at the Age of 63, 1669, Courtesy the National Gallery, London
Background
It is impossible to overstate the importance and influence of Rembrandt as a painter and as a printmaker. He found fame at a relatively young age and his reputation has never diminished in the 345 years since his death. In the final years of his life, despite being beset by personal tragedy and financial difficulties, Rembrandt produced some of his very finest work. In these final years, the ageing artist's creativity and experimental tendencies flourished as he worked rigorously towards the development of a new style of painting. It is the work of this final period of Rembrandt's life upon which this exhibition concentrates.
The exhibition
Rembrandt:The Late Works, is set to be a genuine blockbuster of the sort that comes around very rarely. In fact, the National Gallery are describing it as a 'once in a lifetime' opportunity. This may well be a fair description; it is unlikely that so many of Rembrandt's best works will be together in one place again soon. Organised in collaboration with Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, the exhibition features around 40 paintings, 20 drawings and 30 prints on loan from museums around Europe and North America including the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Mauritshuis in The Hague. The exhibition will include a high proportion of all the confirmed late-period Rembrandt works in existence.
Critical view
It is a mark of the extent of Rembrandt's innovativeness as a painter that during the artist's lifetime several of his contemporaries were moved to question his many shifts of style. The fashion during the late part of Rembrandt's life was for very finely executed paintings, but Rembrandt developed a more expressive, even coarse, way of working. This innovativeness, along with Rembrandt's shift in emphasis away from painting groups of people and towards intimate portraits, gives the paintings an emotional power that has only grown over time.
If you love Rembrandt why not attend a unique masterclass at the National Gallery with Dutch graphic novelist Typex, writer and illustrator of the graphic novel biography Rembrandt which was commissioned for the reopening of the Rijksmuseum. Click here to find out more and book your place
It is impossible to overstate the importance and influence of Rembrandt as a painter and as a printmaker. He found fame at a relatively young age and his reputation has never diminished in the 345 years since his death. In the final years of his life, despite being beset by personal tragedy and financial difficulties, Rembrandt produced some of his very finest work. In these final years, the ageing artist's creativity and experimental tendencies flourished as he worked rigorously towards the development of a new style of painting. It is the work of this final period of Rembrandt's life upon which this exhibition concentrates.
The exhibition
Rembrandt:The Late Works, is set to be a genuine blockbuster of the sort that comes around very rarely. In fact, the National Gallery are describing it as a 'once in a lifetime' opportunity. This may well be a fair description; it is unlikely that so many of Rembrandt's best works will be together in one place again soon. Organised in collaboration with Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, the exhibition features around 40 paintings, 20 drawings and 30 prints on loan from museums around Europe and North America including the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Mauritshuis in The Hague. The exhibition will include a high proportion of all the confirmed late-period Rembrandt works in existence.
Critical view
It is a mark of the extent of Rembrandt's innovativeness as a painter that during the artist's lifetime several of his contemporaries were moved to question his many shifts of style. The fashion during the late part of Rembrandt's life was for very finely executed paintings, but Rembrandt developed a more expressive, even coarse, way of working. This innovativeness, along with Rembrandt's shift in emphasis away from painting groups of people and towards intimate portraits, gives the paintings an emotional power that has only grown over time.
If you love Rembrandt why not attend a unique masterclass at the National Gallery with Dutch graphic novelist Typex, writer and illustrator of the graphic novel biography Rembrandt which was commissioned for the reopening of the Rijksmuseum. Click here to find out more and book your place
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| What | Rembrandt: The Late Works, National Gallery |
| Where | National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London, WC2N 5DN | MAP |
| Nearest tube | Charing Cross (underground) |
| When |
14 Oct 14 – 18 Jan 15, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM |
| Price | £18 |
| Website | Click here for more information and to book via the National Gallery |