Ernst Van De Wetering
Encyclopedia
Ernst van de Wetering, PhD (born 1938) is a Dutch
art historian, considered the world's foremost expert on Rembrandt and his work.
. He received his doctorate in art history from the University of Amsterdam. Since 1968, he has been a member, and is now chairman, of the Rembrandt Research Project
. He was art historian on the staff of Amsterdam
's Central Research Laboratory for Restoration from 1969 to 1987 and, since 1987, has been full professor of history of art at the University of Amsterdam. He has published extensively on historic painting techniques, as well as in the field of theory and ethics of conservation and restoration.
In 1990, he succeeded Josua Bruyn as chair of the Rembrandt Research Project, the team of scholars that is charged with tracking down Rembrandt's works, authenticating them and, when needed, conserving the paintings.
As of 2011, the project has published five volumes on Rembrandt's work, the known Rembrandts, and the techniques used by the painter.
In 2006, in celebration of Rembrandt's 400th birthday, Van de Wetering was quoted by the Associate Press saying: "My hope for the Rembrandt year would be that somehow we would become free of images, that we look with fresh eyes. So much research has been done, and so little of this research has come to the knowledge of the general public."
painted only with natural light.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
art historian, considered the world's foremost expert on Rembrandt and his work.
Background
Ernst van de Wetering was first trained as an artist at the (Dutch) Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The HagueThe Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
. He received his doctorate in art history from the University of Amsterdam. Since 1968, he has been a member, and is now chairman, of the Rembrandt Research Project
Rembrandt Research Project
The Rembrandt Research Project is an initiative of the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek , which is the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research. Its purpose is to organize and categorize research on Rembrandt, with the aim of discovering new facts about this Dutch...
. He was art historian on the staff of Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
's Central Research Laboratory for Restoration from 1969 to 1987 and, since 1987, has been full professor of history of art at the University of Amsterdam. He has published extensively on historic painting techniques, as well as in the field of theory and ethics of conservation and restoration.
In 1990, he succeeded Josua Bruyn as chair of the Rembrandt Research Project, the team of scholars that is charged with tracking down Rembrandt's works, authenticating them and, when needed, conserving the paintings.
As of 2011, the project has published five volumes on Rembrandt's work, the known Rembrandts, and the techniques used by the painter.
Assessment of Rembrandt
In most of his writing and lectures, Van de Wetering portrays Rembrandt as a painter who struggled to create as many marketable paintings as possible, and whose studio turned out a large number of paintings with varying amounts of work by Rembrandt and his apprentices. He was also able to discover a number of Rembrandt's works which had been repainted by the artist to make them more commercially acceptable.In 2006, in celebration of Rembrandt's 400th birthday, Van de Wetering was quoted by the Associate Press saying: "My hope for the Rembrandt year would be that somehow we would become free of images, that we look with fresh eyes. So much research has been done, and so little of this research has come to the knowledge of the general public."
Studies of artists' use of light
Van de Wetering is the voice of dissent when it comes to the significance of light in Dutch 17th century painting. He doubts that it was a factor at all and says there were as many kinds of light as there were ways of painting. It was not a question of light, he adds, but of a painter's methods and style. He has also written several academic papers debunking the myth that Claude MonetClaude Monet
Claude Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. . Retrieved 6 January 2007...
painted only with natural light.