By Wendy Cooper
 The Georgia Museum of Art will be the first institution in the United States to host an exhibition of works by Rembrandt van Rijn from the collection of the Rembrandt House in Amsterdam, the 17th-century house in which Rembrandt lived and worked at the height of his fame, from 1639 until 1660. This is the first time that most of these works have left Holland to come to the United States.
Rembrandt: Treasures from the Rembrandt House, Amsterdam, on view from Nov. 7 through Jan. 10, is the highlight of the museum’s 50th anniversary celebration. Organized by the museum in association with the Rembrandt House, the exhibition includes 82 etchings and two copper plates, giving a thorough view of Rembrandt’s printmaking.
The Rembrandt House, which became a museum in 1911, now owns and houses 260 of Rembrandt’s 300 etchings.
“Known as the greatest etcher who ever lived and the greatest artist of the Dutch school, Rembrandt was a master of light, shadow and emotional depth, whose paintings, drawings and etchings made him a giant in the history of art,” says Patricia Phagan, curator of prints and drawings at the museum and curator of this exhibition.
All of Rembrandt’s subjects are represented in the exhibition--self-portraits, Old and New Testament scenes, allegories and fantasies, scenes of everyday life, nudes and mythological subjects, landscapes and portraits. Highlights include Self-Portrait, Leaning on a Stone Sill (1639), Christ Preaching (“the hundred-guilder print,” circa 1643-49), Christ Presented to the People (state 5; 1655), Sleeping Puppy (circa 1640), The Windmill (circa 1641) and View of Amsterdam (circa 1640).
For Rembrandt, etching was a primary medium, like painting and drawing. He brought the technique of etching to a new level, experimenting beyond the boundaries of his predecessors. Almost always, Rembrandt’s etched “drawings” were thought out on the plate; they did not replicate earlier paintings or compositions. Though he sometimes made preliminary sketches, they were used only as guidelines in “drawings” on copper.
Etching was the medium through which Rembrandt chose to express the intimate stories of his life. He offers a critical analysis of the human condition, presented through circumstances, surroundings or fleeting facial expressions caught by his keenly penetrating eye.
“Rarely has an artist been so candid about his own tumultuous life, forever examining the world around him,” says Phagan. “His works are more than pictures on paper; they are thoughtful and engaging representations of life, love, religion and people, embellished with emotional and insightful detail, which beckon the viewer to befriend and become devoted to them.”
The idea for this exhibition originated in 1995 with S. William Pelletier, Alumni Foundation Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at UGA. Other participants in the international collaboration are Phagan; William U. Eiland, director of the Georgia Museum of Art; A.R.E. de Heer, director of the Rembrandt House Museum; and Marjolein de Boer, curator of the Rembrandt House.
“We are so pleased to bring these etchings to the people of Georgia,” says Eiland. “This exhibition not only will help celebrate the state museum of art’s 50th anniversary, but fulfills our mission of bringing works from all over the world to be enjoyed and studied by our audiences.”
Held in conjunction with the exhibition are two smaller exhibitions at the museum: By or After Rembrandt: Two Paintings from the Bader Collection and The Age of Rembrandt: 17th-Century European Prints. In addition, the museum will host a teacher workshop about Rembrandt on Nov. 12 and a Rembrandt Family Day on Nov. 14.
A symposium on “Rembrandt and New Research: The Prints and the Rembrandt House” will be held on Nov. 7 at 10 a.m. at the museum. The international experts who will discuss current research include the Rembrandt House’s de Heer; Nadine Orenstein of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; Thomas Rassieur, a doctoral student at New York University; and Bas Dudok van Heel, archivist of the city of Amsterdam.
For a complete list of the Rembrandt exhibitions, click here.
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