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Self-portrait from National Trust verified as genuine Rembrandt

Rembrandt National Trust

Patricia Burtnyk & Cirsty Jones from Buckland Abbey with the Rembrandt. Credit Steven Haywood

Rembrandt National Trust 2

Ernst van de Wetering with the Rembrandt at HKI.
Credit Brian Cleckner

Self-portrait from National Trust verified as Rembrandt A self-portrait gifted to the National Trust, previously doubted as being a genuine Rembrandt, has been scientifically verified as being from the Dutch Old Master’s own hand.]]>

June 12, 2014, source: National Trust

After undergoing eight months of painstaking investigative work at the world famous Hamilton Kerr Institute (HKI) in Cambridgeshire – and re-examination by the world’s leading Rembrandt expert – this now famous self-portrait, the original ‘selfie’, is the first Rembrandt in the National Trust’s collection of 13,500 paintings.

Painted by Rembrandt in 1635, the authenticity of the portrait had previously been thrown into doubt by Rembrandt specialist Horst Gerson and the Rembrandt Research Project (RRP) in 1968.

At the time they felt that certain areas of the painting were not accomplished enough to be by Rembrandt, that the date and painting style didn’t correlate and the panel type was unusual.

In 2005 Ernst van de Wetering, one of these experts, concluded that the painting may well be a genuine Rembrandt when confronted with an X-radiograph of the painting and other circumstantial evidence. In 2012 he had a chance to study the painting at the Trust’s Buckland Abbey in Devon where his theory was further confirmed.

His assurance led the conservation charity to send the painting away for further scientific analysis. Christine Slottvedd Kimbriel, Paintings Conservator at HKI said: “When the painting arrived we felt that a thorough technical examination would aid the reassessment of the painting’s authorship and we hoped that the findings could help to verify if it was definitely by Rembrandt“.

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Self-portrait from National Trust verified as genuine Rembrandt