Fantastic news, The Rembrandt Research Project (RRP) is to close without completing the project. After 42 years of unheeding destruction the Rembrandt scholars are retiring in disarray. The greatest humanist artist of all time can now regain his true magnificent stature. The process of re-establishing his greatness must now begin in earnest.
I have been fiercely advocating a new approach to the appreciation of Rembrandt’s art based on my understanding of his drawings. But in the two paintings of “The Adoration of the Shepherds” I have also shown that Rembrandt used a large mirror for his version in The National Gallery (London) at present dismissed by the RRP. Though I have otherwise said little about the paintings, it must be obvious that Rembrandt’s artistic character does not change as his medium changes. So it is clear that the scholars of the paintings are as mistaken as those of the drawings, because both have the same fixed but mistaken idea of the artist they are seeking to define.
As the leading critic of Rembrandt scholarship I am in a strong position to lead the reconstruction. Certainly I am well prepared with a new DVD containing several new chapters including an all important comparison of “Rembrandt’s Syntax” with that of the Italian masters. Also my still unpublished book “Rembrandt the Master not the God” needs little updating and has to be a text book for the new generation of Rembrandt students. I propose to run a pilot course of 2 weeks at the Verrocchio Arts Centre this summer: “New Foundations for Art History”.