ARTE Distribution

The Rembrandt Study Days, dedicated to the 17th century Dutch master and his circle, his pupils, his associates and friends. A splendid collection grouping his major masterpieces, including "Bathsheba at her Bath" and "The Slaughtered Ox".

In the 19th century, it was in France that Rembrandt was the most widely collected and studied. But in the 20th century, the collections and expertise moved to Holland and the Anglo Saxon countries, leaving the French Rembrandts apart in a dormant collection, which the Study Days will be reviving, bringing the works back into the heart of debate.

Today, all major artists have had work disattributed, but Rembrandt remains a special case.
Until the 19th century, there was an explosion in the number of works that were attributed to him. Since then, many works have been sorted: of the 800 Rembrandts recognised back then, only an estimated 300 remain authenticated.

As the various discussions unfold, major questions are raised. Is it a Rembrandt or is it not a Rembrandt? Is such and such a paining, that was for a long time attributed to the master himself, actually a work of a pupil or a copyist? How can one distinguish between real and fake? To restore or not to restore? Should one keep the sheen that has built up over the centuries or take the risk of removing it to expose the true colours beneath?
Just as unique, studying the works, is a panel of experts from all over the world, from the National Galleries in Washington and London, from the Metropolitain Museum in New York, and from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.