The Best Non-Rembrandts

The MIA’s “Rembrandt in America” featured, by approximate count, 50 paintings – 25 by Rembrandt, 25 not so much. The spectrum ran from two authentically great works – the MIA’s own Lucretia and the Self-Portrait from Washington – to two sad pastiches – the Young Woman from Allentown and the Ringling’s Lamentation. Everything else fell somewhere in between, and I’d like to highlight where the two categories overlapped: the best of the non-Rembrandts and the worst of those currently attributed to the master.
The 5 Best Paintings not by Rembrandt
1. Portrait of a Man Reading (Clark Institute)
The tentative attribution to Carel Fabritius acknowledges this painting’s worth, for that artist, killed too young, has at times been as highly prized as Rembrandt himself. Further, the information that the bright background color that sets off the sitter’s profile so distinctly is a later overlay (cat. p. 129) further confuses, because that is the element that makes the painting most un-Rembrandtlike. The light background also makes the “Rembrandt” signature stand out more than usual. Putting the attribution question aside, this is simply a wonderful painting, with far and away the best hand in the show, arguably the best hat, and a face that is wonderfully described – serious and attentive – despite being cast entirely in shadow. Because of the light background, the line from the sitter’s left eyebrow to his moustache is the exhibit’s crispest, cleanest facial line and a welcome contrast to the softness all around. The little pin in his jacket is the kind of touch only a master would add – whichever master it was.
2. The Feast of Esther (North Carolina Museum of Art)
In the context of this show, this work has nothing to do with Rembrandt, and it’s astonishing that it could ever have been so attributed. On its own terms, however, it is a brilliant work, and the idea that Jan Lievens could have painted this at the age of 18 is remarkable. Even through rose-colored glasses, no scene is as strawberry-red as this, but complemented by sky-blue and bits of gold, the color holds the composition together. The fellow in back seems to have walked in from a De la Tour or Caravaggio, but the three principals are beautifully defined by the light cast upon them as much as their expressions.
3. Portrait of a Woman (Hendrickje Stoffels?) (Bader Coll.)
Look at this in the catalogue opposite the Rembrandt self-portrait (pp. 44-45) and ask the question I always asked on tour: which face engages you more? The suggestion that this could be Hendrickje made this an invaluable tour stop as well. The fact that it was acquired by Norton Simon in 1957 (and Alfred Bader in 2003) is a major credential. What, then, is “wrong” with this picture, to give it an attribution outside even Rembrand’ts workshop? Well, the label tells us that the “ineffective use of the butt end of the brush to depict the fur” disqualifies the work as an authentic Rembrandt. As hard and as often as I looked, however, I couldn’t find anything disquieting about the fur – certainly nothing as disquieting as the poorly foreshortened right arm of Joris de Caulerij, the mismatched hands of Minerva or the entire bottom third of the Timken’s St. Bartholomew. (I think it was Simon Schama who mentions that there is always something “wrong” in a good Rembrandt.) On the other hand, the brushwork is masterly, with a shirt every bit as fine as the exhibition’s cover girl, on which a marvelously transparent piece of cloth has been laid. Ultimately, thought, it is getting the face and the hair and the headband and the earring right, all in proportion, that is so hard, and this the artist has done. So if not Rembrandt, who?
4. Portrait of a Woman (Cleveland)
I can’t make the same argument for this woman, as there are plenty of non-Rembrandt touches, such as the flat black background and missing volume for the body. I do, however, thinks she holds up perfectly well if the standard is Anthonie Coopal, who wears a similar lace collar, has a similar facial expression and is displayed across the gallery from her. (His hand is a disaster, but her artist hasn’t even assayed that feature.) My enchantment here is not with anything Rembrandty, but with the sweetness of her face, the delicacy of her complexion, the perfection of her jewelry and the mysterious allure of the lace-and-pearl headcloth(?) that sets off her head of hair. She is especially demure and appealing as displayed, next to “truckdriver Minerva.”
5. Young Man with a Sword (North Carolina Museum of Art)
I didn’t spend any tour time with this gentleman, so will not discuss him in any detail, other than to say I found him totally satisfying, with his refreshingly colorful cape, well-lit face and a hand illogically obscured by shadow, just as Rembrandt would have done it.

The 5 Worst Paintings by Rembrandt
1. Young Man in an Armchair (Rochester)
Rembrandt excelled at painting people who weren’t beautiful, but this this guy is just creepy. I can’t say much more about it because I couldn’t stand to look at it.
2. Portrait of a Woman, Probably Mrs. Van Beresteyn (Metropolitan)
The ruff is huge, and not particularly interesting. The right hand is lifeless and limp. The left hand hangs straight down, although her arm must be jutting forward. Bits of gold appear randomly in her costume – didn’t anyway tell her you don’t wear a necklace with a ruff? But most of all, her face is dead – especially when seen between Marten Looten on one side and her husband on the other.
3. Maria Bockenolle (Boston)
Here is another wife who got short shrift – or more likely, a workshop assistant. Next to her husband, Johannes Elison, her floor is blank, her background is half-baked, her chair arms go off at different angles, the black of her dress is unsophisticated, her ruff and her cuffs are painted mechanically and her left hand looks upside down.
4. Minerva in Her Study (private coll., NY)
Aside from the aforementioned hands, which appear to belong to different people, I have no quarrel with Rembrandt’s technique here. It was good to have in the show as an example of Rembrandt’s Rubens period. But I don’t like Rubens and I’m glad Rembrandt outgrew him. This lady is a battleaxe – not a nice way to portray one’s wife – and I can see why it apparently went unsold from 2001 to 2008 and the current owner wishes anonymity.
5. Self-Portrait with Shaded Eyes (private coll., NY)
The catalogue speculates that this was overpainted because no one wanted it as it was (cat. p. 43). It correctly states that the result was a “laughable absurdity.” Now it has been returned to its original vapidity. Also purchased in 2008, could this be now in the same unfortunate collection as Minerva?