Half of Rembrandt’s engravings were not actually made by him.

Half of the engravings associated with the name of the Dutch Golden Age artist, Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), do not belong to the master himself, others were printed after his death. This conclusion was made by experts of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Eric Hinterding (Erik Hinterding) and Jaco Rutgers (Jaco Rutgers) based on a large-scale study of the work of Rembrandt.

After studying about 18,000 printed engravings, which were thought to have come from Rembrandt’s workshop, scientists concluded that only about half of them were made by the artist himself or under his guidance during the lifetime of the artist. However, 315 copper plates created by the artist between 1625 and 1665 fell into the hands of third parties. As a result, prints of very different, often very mediocre, quality were created.

The study was timed to coincide with the opening at the Rijksmuseum of an exhibition of engravings by a Dutch artist. Copies made by Rembrandt’s hand can be easily distinguished by the use of certain methods for creating special effects in engravings, the museum said in an official statement. “Of course, more luxurious and interesting is what Rembrandt himself did,” Eric Hinterding explained. Later copies can easily be distinguished by low sharpness and lower print quality, experts say. Hinterding also expressed confidence that their discovery would lead to a significant increase in prices for genuine Rembrandt prints.

Anna Sidorova