In 1995, the Metropolitan Museum of Art mounted a controversial exhibition entitled “Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt,” in which works considered to be genuine Rembrandts were displayed alongside those done by his students and admirers. (These lesser paintings are often dismissed as “the school of Rembrandt.”) The point of the exhibition was to reveal the fine line between genius and imitation, authenticity and fakery.
A hundred years ago, about 700 works were attributed to Rembrandt. Over the course of the 20th century, that number declined by 50 percent, as critics and historians began searching for those tell-tale marks that distinguish the old master from his young pupils. Such critical distinctions have massive financial consequences: while a painting by celebrated Rembrandt pupil William Drost might sell for a few hundred thousand dollars – his best canvases can go for a couple million – a genuine Rembrandt is worth many times more. In 2009, a lesser Rembrandt portrait sold for $33 million. via Wired
December 14, 2011
