Connoisseurship and the Investigation of Materiality: Four “Rembrandt” Drawings in Weimar*
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Thomas Ketelsen
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to present the productive interplay of connoisseurship and material analysis when dealing with drawings by Rembrandt – or previously attributed to him – in the collection of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar. This concerns the more precise determination of the drawing materials used and the reconstruction of the genesis of the drawings discussed. The material analysis allows us to decide whether and how Rembrandt’s inks can be used to determine authorship at all. The “material turn” in drawing studies thus intervenes in the discussion about authorship and opens up a broader production aesthetic perspective. No longer the “style” but rather the handeling becomes the decisive criterion for answering the question “Rembrandt, or not?”
Photo Credits: 1, 3–5, 8, 12, 15–19, 21, 23–25, 27, 30 © Carsten Wintermann, Weimar. — 2 © Kassel, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister. — 6 © Georg Dietz, Dresden. — 7, 13 © Antje Penz, Berlin. — 9 © RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre), photo: Thierry Le Mage. — 10, 11 © Bayonne, musée Bonnat-Helleu, photo: A. Vaquero. — 14, 29 © Oliver Hahn, Berlin. — 20 © RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre), photo: Stéphane Maréchalle. — 22, 31 © Berlin, Staatliche Museen – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Kupferstichkabinett, photo: Jörg P. Anders. — 26 © Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum. — 28, 33 © Berlin, Staatliche Museen – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Kupferstichkabinett, photo: Dietmar Katz. — 32 © London, The Trustees of the British Museum. — 34 © Munich, Staatliche Graphische Sammlung. — 35 © Berlin, Staatliche Museen – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Kupferstichkabinett, photo: Volker-H. Schneider.
© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Aufsätze
- On The Origin of the Milky Way by Peter Paul Rubens: Astronomy, Astrology and Mythology in Early Modern Europe*
- Connoisseurship and the Investigation of Materiality: Four “Rembrandt” Drawings in Weimar*
- “The condition most habitual with him, work”: David’s Portrait of Napoleon in His Cabinet at the Tuileries
- Buchbesprechungen
- Auf den Grund gegangen: Die fränkischen Gemälde des Germanischen Nationalmuseums
- Der Louvre von London
- Öffentliche Angelegenheiten
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Aufsätze
- On The Origin of the Milky Way by Peter Paul Rubens: Astronomy, Astrology and Mythology in Early Modern Europe*
- Connoisseurship and the Investigation of Materiality: Four “Rembrandt” Drawings in Weimar*
- “The condition most habitual with him, work”: David’s Portrait of Napoleon in His Cabinet at the Tuileries
- Buchbesprechungen
- Auf den Grund gegangen: Die fränkischen Gemälde des Germanischen Nationalmuseums
- Der Louvre von London
- Öffentliche Angelegenheiten
