May 11–August 28,
2016
J. Paul Getty Museum
The J. Paul Getty Museum is exhibiting
three of Rembrandt’s earliest
known paintings, lent by the Leiden Collection in New York, in a special installation highlighting the recentlyrediscovered
The Unconscious Patient (An Allegory of the Sense of Smell), 1624 .
One of a series by Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (Dutch, 1606 –1669) depicting the five senses, The Unconscious Patient, the artist’s earliest monogrammed signed painting, will be
exhibited with two others from the
series— Hearing and Touch —as well as other early Rembrandts.
“Rembrandt is unquestionably one of the greatest and most -loved painters of the
European tradition, whose work
still grips modern audiences as strongly
as it did his own contemporaries,” says Timothy Potts, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum.
“This special installation provides a
unique opportunity to witness him
at the genesis of his career, some
four hundred years ago, as a young man of only eighteen or nineteen just beginning on his
professional career. While it is not yet the Rembrandt we know from his maturity, these works already
demonstrate his experimental approach
and show some of the emotional intensity that was to be an enduring features of
his work. It is particularly appropriate to be
bringing these works together for the first time at the Getty Museum, as we possesses the most
significant collection of early Rembrandts in the United States. Complemented by other loans from Thomas Kaplan and Daphne
Recanati - Kaplan’s Leiden
Collection, this presentation represents a remarkable visual survey of the development of the artist. We, and other museums, are deeply
grateful for Tom and Daphne’s continuing generosity in making his works
accessible to a broader public.”
Until last year, only three of the five Senses
were known to art historians.
The
exhibition will feature The Sense of Smell along with
The Three Musicians (An Allegory of The Sense of Hearing) about 1624, Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (Dutch, 1606 – 1669) Oil
on Panel. Image Courtesy
of the Leiden Collection, New York.
The
Stone Operation (Allegory of the Sense of Touch) about 1624, Rembrandt Harmensz
van Rijn (Dutch, 1606 –1669) Oil on Panel. Image Courtesy of the
Leiden Collection, New York.
A
fourth known picture from the set,
The Spectacle
Seller (An Allegory of The Sense
of Sight), is in the collection
of the Lakenhal Museum in Leiden. The whereabouts of the fifth
sense, an allegoryof taste,
remains unknown.
“Rembrandt’s ability to convey emotions and create a compelling narrative on a
small scale is fully evident in
these fascinating and important paintings,”
says Anne Woollett, curator of
paintings at the Getty Museum.
“Viewing these works with other
important early paintings, including the Getty’s self -portrait
Rembrandt Laughing (1628)
and An
Old Man in Military Costume (about
1630 –31),
shows Rembrandt’s
desire to capture a range of human
emotions and ages in paint, and how rapidly he developed in only a few short years. Thanks to the
generosity of the Leiden Collection, the Senses allow us to trace this remarkable trajectory.”
In
autumn 2015, The Sense of Smell surfaced at an auction in the United States. It has since entered the Leiden Collection, the
private collection and gallery of Thomas S. Kaplan in New York that was already home to its
sister pictures: The Sense of Hearing and The Sense of
Touch.
Recently, The Sense of Smell was on
view at TEFAF Maastricht where it caused a stir and commanded a great deal of attention. Two other Rembrandts from the Leiden Collection,
Portrait of a Girl Wearing a Gold -Trimmed Cloak (1632)
and Portrait
of a Rabbi (about 1640 –45),
among
other Dutch seventeenth -century
paintings, have been at the Getty
Museum on long-term loan and will be shown in conjunction with the Senses.
It is
likely that Rembrandt painted the Senses in his hometown of Leiden in about
1624 to 1625, following his
training with Jacob van Swanenburg (1571 –1638) and prior to six months in Amsterdam studying with the
illustrious hi story painter Pieter Lastman (1583 –1633). The Senses attest to Rembrandt’s close
relationship with his friendly rival in Leiden, Jan Lievens (1607 –1674), whose
Card Players(1623 –24),
also from the Leiden Collection, will be included in this special installation.
After being
exhibited at the Getty Museum, the
Senses as well as Rembrandt’s Portrait of a Girl Wearing a Gold -Trimmed
Cloak and Portrait of a Rabbi will be exhibited internationally.
