Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Art Around the Web -- Rembrandt Web Catalogue -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog


I found this wonderful website looking for a copy image of a Rembrandt painting for Easter.  The website was designed by Frank J. Seinstra at University van Amsterdam.

Frank describes the website as more of a “Web catalog.”


Cataloging Rembrandt is a daunting task and Frank did not try to confirm or deny the authenticity of any of the work. In fact he included all known and disputed paintings, divided into 6 periods. In each of these periods the works are categorized according to their current apparent status among Rembrandt experts;
Category I: Generally accepted as autograph,
Category II: Disputed, doubted, or attributed without general support,
Category III: Generally rejected and/or attributed to an artist other than Rembrandt.


Within each of these categories the works are ordered by the year in which they were produced. Placing the mouse pointer over an image will show the painting's title, year, and location, together with the catalogue numbers taken from 14 different oeuvre catalogues published in the last 100 years (see below). If available, additional references to related literature are shown as well. Clicking generally gives a reproduction as found somewhere on the Internet.

Currently, the Web Catalogue contains 253 Category I paintings, 119 Category II paintings, and 370 Category III paintings - a combined total of 742 works.
From Frank;
The Web Catalogue is not commercial; copyright and all rights therein are retained by the copyright holders. Also, the catalogue is not intended to provide high-resolution reproductions. Instead it intends to present the most complete Internet overview of the works by - or closely related to - one of the greatest painters of all time. The Web Catalogue does not pretend to be authoritative; I am not a Rembrandt expert, and I do not have access to all the latest scientific results. Hence, the Web Catalogue undoubtedly will contain some errors - but I have tried my best to be as complete and accurate as possible. Finally, electronic and paper reproductions can never replace the actual paintings themselves - so please take this Web Catalogue as an incentive to go and see 'the real thing'.


Amen Frank, go see the real thing!  GL

A Web Catalogue of Rembrandt Paintings Link

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