UPDATE: Due to coronavirus pandemic and lockdown of the Czech Republic this exhibition has been postponed. It will now open on 25 September 2020 and run until 31 January 2021.
The National Gallery Prague, in cooperation with the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne, Germany, is preparing an exhibition to mark the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the death of major Netherlandish painter Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606, Leiden – 1669, Amsterdam).
The exhibition’s central work is the portrait Scholar in His Study from the collections of the National Gallery Prague, which Rembrandt painted in 1634, a very successful time in his professional and private life. The portrait captures not only the physical appearance of an unknown elderly man, but also his dramatic spiritual life; the man’s facial expression tells a rich story elevating the painting to a level of historical significance. Yet this rare work conceals more questions than answers. In several interconnected parts, the exhibition project seeks to explore the theme of cognition and learning, contemplation and intimacy from various angles – from the artist’s beginnings and early works in this theme’s context to his increasing popularity in Amsterdam in the 1630s, relevant works by his students and contemporaries and the modern understanding of Rembrandt’s oeuvre.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The exhibition will present a number of first-class artworks loaned by major museums and galleries, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp, the National Gallery in London, The Leiden Collection or the Albertina in Vienna, and also by private collectors.
The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue with essays by Anja K. Sevcik, Laura E. Thiel-Convery, Wayne Franits, Blanka Kubíková and Lucie Němečková as well as entries to all exhibits with contributions by CODART members Peter van den Brink, Lara Yeager-Crasselt, Leonore van Sloten, Justus Lange, Gero Seelig, Sandra-Kristin Diefenthaler and Marcus Dekiert.
[Text via codart.nl]