Two genuine Rembrandt paintings found in Copenhagen...

A few years ago I rushed out of a room in Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy.
Gesticulating to my family, there are three Rembrandts - hanging side by side inside that room!!
Come, come, come.
"Who is Rembradt?", one said.
I believe it was in order to joke about my enthusiasm.

At an exhibition at the National Gallery in Denmark - in Danish it's called Statens Museum for Kunst - there is an exhibition titled "Rembrandt? The Master and his Workshop".
It takes place 4 February - 14 May 2006.

At this exhibition there are 100 Rembrandts!
There are 19 paintings and then prints and drawings by Rembrandt.
As I entered into the dark room with one spotlight on each Rembradt my enthusiasm was transformed into thankfulness and humility.
Thankfulness and humility due to the fact that I was blessed to experience this.
Contributions and loans from the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, the Mauritshuis in the Hague, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the National Gallery in London, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and more made this unique event possible.
An experience of a lifetime.
The bare presence of 100 Rembrandts in one museum was far from the only highlight.

2 genuine Rembrandts found in Copenhagen.
The National Gallery in Copenhagen found two genuine Rembrandt paintings by the master himself in their archives.
Two paintings that have lived a life of obscurity in the collections at the National Gallery after having been rejected as genuine Rembrandts at different points during the 20th century.

As soon as I came home from the exhibition I took a close look at my own archives.
But unfortunately I found no Rembrandts.

The 2 paintings are now reattributed to Rembrandt. After three years of studies conducted in close co-operation with international experts, The National Gallery is in a position to conclude that in addition to a rich collection of prints and drawings by Rembrandt, the museum also owns two genuine paintings by the master himself.

Below you can study the two reattributed Rembrandts.


Study of an Old Man in Profile, c. 1630
approximately 20 x 25 cm - that's 8" x 10"
oil on canvas
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69)

You must click on the painting. I have made a large image available, so that you can enjoy it yourself.

The small Study of an Old Man in Profile is find made by Karl Madsen at Fredensborg Castle, where he discovered the painting in a storage in 1899. However, Rembrandt scholars doubted this attribution from as far back as 1933 onwards. Their doubts were mainly caused by the coarse style of painting. The scholars of the time found it difficult to reconcile this coarseness with what they thought of as the typically very meticulous and carefully finished style of Rembrandt's early works. Recent art history has, however, pointed out that even during the earliest stage of his career - the years spent painting in his native town of Leiden - Rembrandt experimented with broader and more varied brushstrokes. Like other works by the young Rembrandt, this small painting appears to be a practice piece. X-ray studies bear out this theory by showing us that the old man's head was painted on top of another head that appears in several of Rembrandt's paintings from those years. At the same time, studies of the wooden panel show that the wood can be traced back to Rembrandt in terms of both geography and time.


The Crusader, c.1659-61
approximately 60 x 80 cm - that's 23" x 31"
oil on canvas
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69)

You must click on the painting. I have made a large image available, so that you can enjoy it yourself.

In 1911 the Rembrandt connoisseur and then director of The National Gallery, Karl Madsen, found The Crusader in a remote corner of Fredensborg Castle where it had been placed in temporary storage. Despite Karl Madsen's evident enthusiasm for the painting, its status was soon called into question, and in 1969 it was rejected as a Rembrandt. The most recent studies now tell us that the painting is a sketch for The Knight with the Falcon (Göteborgs Konstmuseum). X-rays support this assumption by demonstrating that the underlying layers of paint are built up in a manner typical of Rembrandt. The piece presumably depicts the Dutch Saint Bavo, and the painting has the convincing oscillation between the precise and the spontaneous that is so typical of Rembrandt. At the same time it exemplifies the pastose manner of painting characteristic of the artist's late work. There are, however, some signs to suggest that parts of the painting were done by one of Rembrandt's students, a common practice at the master's workshop.

The studies took place in co-operation with an international panel of experts comprising the head of the Rembrandt Research Project, professor dr. Ernst van de Wetering, research technician with the Rembrandt Research Project Karin Groen, senior conservator David Bomford from the National Gallery in London, and head of conservation at the National Gallery Jørgen Wadum.
Based on the latest knowledge about Rembrandt and the artists in the circle around him - and technical studies such as x-rays, infrared reflectography, dendrochronology (the science of dating wood), studies of the canvas thread count, ground, layers of paint, etc. - the National Gallery has obtained much more knowledge about the works in question. For example, the two reattributed works have been placed at either end of Rembrandt's life's work. The studies are documented in a comprehensive book published in connection with the exhibition.


The National Gallery - Statens Museum for Kunst.
The Old Building.
A National Gallery with Rembrandts you would probably expect to look like this:



The museum building dates back to 1896 and was designed in ornamental
historicism by the architect Wilhelm Dahlerup. This building reflects the exuberant joy -
so typical of the period - taken in mixing several historical styles.
This is most clearly evident from the richly decorated facade and the imposing entrance,
which makes for a solemn transition from the outside world into the museum collections.

And the interior?
You might expect it to look like this.
Wouldn't you?


The National Gallery - Statens Museum for Kunst.
The New Building.
You would NOT expect the architecture to look like this:







In the huge stage room there was a projector and a screen.
Wonderful surroundings for an interactive lecture.

The National Gallery has two faces.
The new facade.
And the old facade.
One that depicts care for contemporary and modernistic trends.
And another that depicts care for the past.

The first highlight was 100 Rembrandts in one place,
the second highlight was the two genuine Rembrandt paintings
and the third highlight is an exhibition called...HIGHLIGHTS.


HIGHLIGHTS - an exhibition.
The most outstanding works in the collections of the National Gallery are presented in a new, challenging way.
In connection with an extensive fireproofing of the old building a plentiful selection of 700 years of art - ranging from contemporary artist Baselitz via Jorn, Picasso, Braque, Matisse to Eckersberg, El Greco, Cranach, Mantegna, Lorenzetti - and many others.
I must not forget Rubens.
The presentation is in some ways like the compact floor-to-ceiling hanging of the past, as experienced by the first guests to the National Gallery when it opened in 1896.




The works are hung from floor to ceiling and arranged chronologically.
However, the surroundings are changed, and the old paintings presents themselves quite differently in the white,
spacious rooms of the new building, just as the juxtaposition of the works show new analogies.


2004 - 1905 Contemporary and Modern Art
I have selected some of the art works from HIGHLIGHTS. They are shown in reverse chronological order:




Georg Baselitz (f. 1938), Crema, 2004, oil on canvas
Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973), Naked Woman lying by Window, 1971, pencil, red and blue chalk
Asger Jorn (1914 - 1973), Vision Rouge (Red Visions), 1944, oil on canvas
Amedeo Modigliani (1884 - 1920), Alice, 1918, oil on canvas
Georges Braque (1882 - 1963), Arbres (The Trees at l'Estaque), 1908, oil on canvas
André Derain (1880 - 1954), La danseuse ou la femme en chemise (woman in chemise), 1906, oil on canvas
Henri Matisse (1869 - 1954), Portrait of Madame Matisse. The Green Line, 1905, oil on canvas


1820 - 1337 Older Art.
Shown in reverse chronological order:




C.W. Eckersberg (1783 - 1853), Bella and Hanna. The Eldest Daughters of M.L. Nathanson, 1820, oil on canvas
El Greco (1541 - 1614), Portrait of a Man, 1570-1575, oil on canvas
Nicolas Poussin (1594 - 1665), The Testament of Eudamidas, 1644-1648, oil on canvas
Jan Gossaert (1478 - 1532), Portrait of a Man, 1493-1532, oil on wood
Lucas Cranach d. Æ. (1472 - 1553), Venus with Cupid stealing honey, 1530, oil on wood
Parmigianino (1503 - 1540), Portrait of Lorenza Cybo, 1523, oil on wood
Andrea Mantegna (1430 - 1506), Christ as the suffering Redeemer, 1495-1500, tempera on panel
Ambrogio Lorenzetti (1317 - 1348), St. John the Baptist, 1337-42, tempera on panel


After HIGHLIGHT.
The hanging is sure challenging. The art works do not have the space they usually have.
The juxtaposition of the works is challenging.
Old paintings side by side with new.
Styles are mixed.
Old paintings in the new building.
Sure new analogies are exposed.

But I have as a spectator a unique opportunity to explore.
I myself had paid no attention to Gijsbrects before.
The Flemish Cornelius Nobertus Gijsbrects.
He was a painter at the Danish Royal Court for some years.
He painted kind of photo realistic.
He had a wonderful twisted brain, he painted the backside of a framed painting.
A painting from 1675 seamed contemporary to me.
I know a contemporary guy who paints in exactly the same way.
I admire the craftsmanship.

Last time I had this feeling that a deceased artist lives right now was in Chicago.
In Oak Park I saw several of Frank Lloyd Wright's houses.
One from 1909 seamed built yesterday.


Two more exhibitions:
Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen: EgoShow, the x-room 18 February - 14 May 2006 and Danish Sculpture 1850-2000 in The Sculpture Street between the old and the new building.
It's not fair to either Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen or Danish sculptures to say anything about these exhibitions.
I saw them.
But my perception tools had been shut down due to mental exhaustion.


Thoughts.
Doing something challenging in the art world that forms a synthesis without deriving focus from the art - that's a branch of art itself.
With the exhibitions
"Rembrandt? The Master and his Workshop" and
SMK HIGHLIGHTS
the Notional Gallery has succeeded in this branch of art.

Once I saw something challenging in the art world that formed a synthesis without deriving focus from the art.
It was back in 1993.
Koldinghus Castle Ruin in Kolding, Denmark is most delicately restored and renewed by the architects Inger and Johannes Exner 1972-92.
The combination of this extraordinary historical atmosphere, the contemporary architecture and Miró's sculptures formed a synthesis.

The presence of the name Allis Helleland in both cases, at the National Gallery and at Koldinghus Castle Ruin might be coincidental?
It is not.

Photos: By SMK Foto

New Article: Two genuine Rembrandt paintings found in Copenhagen.

The National Gallery in Copenhagen found two genuine Rembrandt paintings by the master himself in their archives.
Two paintings that have lived a life of obscurity in the collections at the National Gallery after having been rejected as genuine Rembrandts at different points during the 20th century.

Below you can study the two reattributed Rembrandts.

Study of an Old Man in Profile, c. 1630
approximately 20 x 25 cm - that's 8" x 10"
oil on canvas
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69)

You must click on the painting. I have made a large image available, so that you can enjoy it yourself.
The small Study of an Old Man in Profile is find made by Karl Madsen at Fredensborg Castle, where he discovered the painting in a storage in 1899. However, Rembrandt scholars doubted this attribution from as far back as 1933 onwards. Their doubts were mainly caused by the coarse style of painting. The scholars of the time found it difficult to reconcile this coarseness with what they thought of as the typically very meticulous and carefully finished style of Rembrandt's early works. Recent art history has, however, pointed out that even during the earliest stage of his career - the years spent painting in his native town of Leiden - Rembrandt experimented with broader and more varied brushstrokes. Like other works by the young Rembrandt, this small painting appears to be a practice piece. X-ray studies bear out this theory by showing us that the old man's head was painted on top of another head that appears in several of Rembrandt's paintings from those years. At the same time, studies of the wooden panel show that the wood can be traced back to Rembrandt in terms of both geography and time.


The Crusader, c.1659-61
approximately 60 x 80 cm - that's 23" x 31"
oil on canvas
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69)

You must click on the painting. I have made a large image available, so that you can enjoy it yourself.
In 1911 the Rembrandt connoisseur and then director of The National Gallery, Karl Madsen, found The Crusader in a remote corner of Fredensborg Castle where it had been placed in temporary storage. Despite Karl Madsen's evident enthusiasm for the painting, its status was soon called into question, and in 1969 it was rejected as a Rembrandt. The most recent studies now tell us that the painting is a sketch for The Knight with the Falcon (Göteborgs Konstmuseum). X-rays support this assumption by demonstrating that the underlying layers of paint are built up in a manner typical of Rembrandt. The piece presumably depicts the Dutch Saint Bavo, and the painting has the convincing oscillation between the precise and the spontaneous that is so typical of Rembrandt. At the same time it exemplifies the pastose manner of painting characteristic of the artist's late work. There are, however, some signs to suggest that parts of the painting were done by one of Rembrandt's students, a common practice at the master's workshop.

See my Article on this.

Sincerely,
Asbjorn Lonvig
Lille Fejringhus
43 Fejringhusvej
8722 Hedensted
Denmark
lonvig@mail.dk
www.lonvig.dk on art, design etc.
www.lonvig.org on writing, lecturing etc.

Photos: By SMK Foto

New Article: Search Engine Strategies for Success: 2006

by John Wooton Author and Creator, The SEO Journal Blog and Asbjorn Lonvig.

Readers of my latest Art News Artblog have asked me to write about how I got a relatively good presence on the internet. Yesterday's statistics: 150,000 hits on Google.com and 100,000 hits on Yahoo.com on the search term "lonvig" and 64,708 hits and 1,176,552,123 bytes transferred per day on my web site http://www.lonvig.dk/.

John Wooton: As you know, every year is always rocked by a plethora of changes in the search engine marketing world. The acquisition of smaller companies by the Big 3 changes the marketing landscape as we know it every month and with every update to the index that is made, we hold our breath and hope that we come out better (if not, the same) in the end. So when it comes to the new year, there are many things that we should look out for to stay on top of the rankings.

1. Quality Content: I say this so often and I cannot overemphasize this enough: Content is KING! Search engine spiders, crawl the net to find what? Content! Your site has information (hopefully) that you want the spiders to see and include in their index. By the creation and publication of quality content, you give the search engines more reason to return. You are feeding them what they want. In 2006, you should be finding creative ways to get your content noticed and viewed as well as finding creative ways to publish fresh content on a regular basis. A very good way this is done is through the use of message boards (hosted on your site) and by blogs (enabling you to publish more frequently).

Asbjorn Lonvig:

Tell a story. Every time I enter something on the internet, on my own website or another web site like an online gallery I tell a story. Like what Jose Dali said about my fairy tale character Crab-Mac-Claw or Alice Garibaldi's view of my computer drafts of sculptures in Rome. For search engine optimization and submission to selected search engines I use the software IBP Internet Business Promoter by Axandra, Germany. For check of meta tags I use the free Meta Tag Analyzer from Submitexpress.com. This is to ensure 100 % title relevancy to page content, 100 % description relevancy to page content and 100 % keyword relevancy to page content.

Don't focus on your web main page (index page) - focus on every page, only 1.56 % of my visitors enter through the web main page.

__________________

John Wooton:

2. Don't Overextend Your Link Exchange Structure: Backlinks were a popular way to increase your rankings fast in the search engines. The tradition holds: find a PR7 website and trade backlinks and you'll be indexed in Google within 24 hours. That strategy still holds true and is beneficial for new web sites. But in my opinion the days of tremendous link swapping are coming to an end. Many website have been founded with the purpose of allowing you to exchange links with other web sites. This has caused a massive influx of web masters who want to exchange a ton of links with the hope that it will help them in the search engines. But what really matters when it comes to links is the amount of quality one way backlinks that direct users to your website. You want the balance of links to be in your favor, that is what leads to success. Also, there has been talk of search engines taking notice of these "link farms" and penalizing those who take part in them. So if you do take part in link exchanges, please be moderate in respect to the number of exchanges you take part in.

Asbjorn Lonvig:

I do not concentrate upon links any more. I only make links that are relevant to my content. If I am asked to link to a Kangaroo farm in Canberra, New South Wales, Australia, I sure will do it. Now and then I run a Link Popularity Check on my online galleries to check their degree of presence on the internet. The Link Popularity Check program is free and it is from Axandra, Germany. Absolutearts.com has the highest link popularity of all online galleries.

__________________

John Wooton:

3. RSS and XML: Two new technologies that have begun to take center stage especially in 2005 include a programming language that has been around for several years called XML. XML is short for extensible markup language and is a derivative from HTML. The main difference is your ability to create descriptive tags for your data. This has led to the advent of RSS or real simple syndication. RSS is a way for you to publish your data to an XML file hosted on your site. Users subscribe to your RSS feed via the XML file and whenever you make a changes to your XML file they are notified. It's become a major technology used by news agencies and bloggers alike as a simple method of publishing your information across a wide variety of platforms. XML has also proved useful with the Google Site maps program, newly released in 2005. The optional tags available with the XML site map allow you to be descriptive about the individual pages on your site including dates the individual pages were modified. There are some small things you need to pay attention to when creating this: namely you have to follow the Google xml schema, and you have to be diligent about tracking and fixing errors in the code. But if used correctly, it is a great way to help Google index the hidden pages of your website due to javascript or flash.

Asbjorn Lonvig:

I have made an RSS to all main pages on my web site and an RSS to every online gallery. I use the FeedForAll RSS feed creation tool to built my own RSSs. This way I have built 73 "hand made" RSSs. I use the following blogging systems for posting a lot of news and for automatic building of RSSs, ATOM feeds and RDFs: Blogger.com, Blogger.dk, Blog.com, Bloglines.com, Spaces.msn.com, Squarespace.com, Angelfire.com and Artday.org. Artday.org is Japanese. It is from Tokyo. And so is the image to the left. It's the Tokyo skyline with Tokyo Tower. The title is "Tokyo Moonlight". All of the above RSSs, ATOM feeds and RDFs - both my own "hand made" RSSs and the RSSs, ATOM feeds and RDFs generated automatically by blogging systems - are submitted to selected directories and search engines with the software RSS FEEDS Submit from rssfeedssubmit.com - if you need an introduction to RSS news feeds, you'll find it on rssfeedssubmit.com. I have built one site map in English and one in Danish.

___________________

John Wooton:

4. Stay away from Flash and Javascript for the time being: Flash and Javascript are very powerful tools for creating dynamic and eye catching web sites. The most prominent problem with the two technologies is that the spiders can't index through them (at least not yet). This limits your ability to have the search engines index portions of your site. Many have speculated that the Big 3 are working on solving this problem, but for the time being, avoid or limit your use of these technologies.

5. Avoid Unethical SEO: There are a lot of programs out there that help you to achieve maximum link back ratios in a very short amount of time. Some of them are good; some are bad. In fact, some of them will waste your effort trying to post trivial comments on blogs or trying to maximize your link exchanges. In my opinion, you should seek success in SEM the right, ethical way. Seek out honest web companies to exchange a moderate amount of links with. Post only relevant comments to forums and blogs because that behavior leads to lasting link backs. Also, don't try to manipulate your website to make it appear to have a higher PR than you really do. Google sees that one!

Asbjorn Lonvig:

I stay away from Flash and.....
I stay away from unethical SEO.

_____________________

John Wooton:

6. Last, but not least, Articles: There is a little bit of controversial talk about whether it is right to post articles for free use in directories. In my opinion, you are providing a well needed service to web masters and I don't see this one as a potential loss for 2006. Information is valuable. And web sites that need content (especially fresh content) desire what you do to make their efforts a success. So it is natural for your web site rankings to benefit through backlinks from those articles. It's a win win situation. One other thought on this subject. Right now, the search engines can punish web sites for having duplicate content, and that is an argument that many will propose. But, the search engines will usually only punish you if the html format of a web site is similar, not a couple of articles. So posting articles is safe for now. But be cautious. Many lucrative methods of ethical SEO can be turned into a problem when too many people attempt to abuse the technology. So that's it. Short, but informative. SEO is both an art and a technology that we have to use correctly for the right type of success. Who knows what the year ahead may bring, but playing your cards right, you can achieve success and avoid any pitfalls that may come.

Asbjorn Lonvig:

This Art News Artblog article is an example of Articles. I write articles to as you know WWAR/Absolutearts, to Editorial Qroquis - a printed art magazine in Buenos Aires (translated into Spanish) and ADN World ArtNews in Tokyo. Furthermore my articles are published on selected RSSes of my own, on all the blogging systems mentioned above and on the online gallery ArtCad.com in Paris. To keep track of the effect of my efforts to have a relatively good internet presence I use a server based statistic system on my web hotel called InSite. I use Google Alerts to continuously inform me what new things of mine have been indexed. Occasionally I check presence on Yahoo.com. And then I check the online galleries. January 2006 WWAR/Absolutearts topped with 73,000 hits followed by ArtWanted in Salt Lake City with 21,000 hits. Other online galleries like Yessy.com in Denver Colorado had 17,000 hits and a new online galley in Paris - ArtPourTous - had reached 4000 visitors. "Grand Maitre" to the right - that is Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec - is of course exhibited in Paris. I'm working hard to produce decent traffic on all online galleries.

__________________

Asbjorn Lonvig:

Thoughts. Your sales has nothing to do with your artistic talent, with your exhibition at Chicago Athenaeum or with nice words written about your art in a French book on "How to communicate through pictures". It's all about your internet presence???

Thanks. I want to thank John Wooton Author and Creator, The SEO Journal Blog for permitting me to use his article "Search Engine Strategies for Success: 2006", which I read 5 January 2006 in Entireweb Newsletter.

Questions. Ask all the questions you like in comments to this entry.