Dutchman Held Hostage in Osaka

[Mike Oxlong]

Rembrandt bragging rights likely belong to Osaka exec

OSAKA (Kyodo) A painting owned by a company president in Osaka could be "The Man with the Golden Helmet" by 17th century Dutch master Rembrandt, according to a Japanese restorer who examined the work for authentication.

Mitsuhiko Kuroe, 72, an art historian and a restorer, made the announcement Tuesday after spending about two months analyzing the painting, which is 75.8 cm high and 56.1 cm wide.

Kuroe said he found the painter had altered the shape of the helmet by painting over it, leading him to suspect it is a genuine Rembrandt and not the work of one of his apprentices, who often painted works that are considered Rembrandt works today.

"I see sharpness in the brushwork used in depicting the subject's face," he said in concluding the painting is a Rembrandt original.

The unnamed owner of the painting said, "I have "no intention of having the painting undergo further authentication" and did not disclose how he obtained it.

Full Story in Japan Times

[Tsuru]

The unnamed owner of the painting said, "I have "no intention of having the painting undergo further authentication" and did not disclose how he obtained it.

Why am I not surprised?

[Charles]

Why am I not surprised?

The ultimate authority is the Rembrandt Research Committee. There have been a few cases where the RRC de-attributed paintings, and suddenly your multimillion dollar Rembrandt is a work by one of his students and worth about 2% of its former value. Obviously there are a lot of people who don't want the committee to examine their works, of course these are the works with shaky claims to authenticity.

Anyway, Rembrandt was not particularly known for his "sharpness in the brushwork," in fact, most of his work is pretty murky and loose. One of my favorite art history books had a full page portrait by Rembrandt of a man wearing a jeweled necklace. It looked like he'd painted each facet of each gem in detail. The next page in the book was a HUGE blowup of several of the jewels, they were actually just an irregular splot of paint applied with no particular design. Ah, that is the mystery of a great artist, he can make a single random splot from a brushstroke look like a gem, like it had to be painted that way.