My encounter with Prof. Ernst van der Wetering, heavy weight champion of the Rembrandt world, was over all to quickly. See my blog www.verrocchio.co.uk/blog TRIUMPH OF TRUTH. Though the discussion was all on his territory (the two Adoration paintings) he did not even seem to understand the difference between a cartoon reversal and a mirror image and therefore was unable to understand his crushing defeat. (A mirror reverses a different view of the same group one observes direct. It therefore proves the presence of a three dimensional group for Rembrandt and his students to observe; the student versions prove the same.)
If there is another heavy-weight out there who thinks he could do better than Van der Wetering I am very willing to have a return match in front of a primed audience containing a fair smattering of people who can think three dimensionally, such as artists, engineers or architects. My fees would not reflect the fact that I am now the reigning champion, though naturally I do not want to end up out of pocket.
SERIOUSLY, Rembrandt scholarship has been in a disastrous state for too long. The scholars will never willingly concede defeat. I have been criticizing from the side-lines for 43 years without effect. The public or the media will have to intervene to arrange this confrontation before I go the way of all flesh. (I am now 87)
I have wonderful news to give the world if I could get a word in edgeways. I am in the process of revising my 1978 book on Rembrandt which was accepted by Phaidon and then rejected after a heinous reader’s report from an anonymous Rembrandt expert. Is there a brave publisher out there?