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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1964.172
People
Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, Dutch (Leiden 1606 - 1669 Amsterdam)
Previously attributed to Follower of Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, Dutch (Leiden 1606 - 1669 Amsterdam)
Title
Head of Christ
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
c. 1648-1656
Culture
Dutch
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/228065

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on oak panel
Dimensions
25.5 x 20.4 cm (10 1/16 x 8 1/16 in.)
framed: 42.1 x 37.5 x 5 cm (16 9/16 x 14 3/4 x 1 15/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: back of panel, white paint, handwritten: 5[0?] / IH
  • label: back of panel, paper: [illeg.; has been varnished or painted over]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[E. and A. Silberman Galleries, New York, (by 1939) sold]; to Thomas Mitchell, Los Angeles (1940-1962). [Paul Kantor Gallery, Los Angeles, sold] to William A. Coolidge, gift; to Fogg Art Museum , 1964.

Notes:

Silberman suggested that the painting came from a Polish collection.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of William A. Coolidge
Accession Year
1964
Object Number
1964.172
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Stephen C. Jordan, Bohemian Rogue: The Life of Hollywood Artist John Decker, The Scarecrow Press, Inc. (Lanham, Maryland), pp. 93-94
  • Seymour Slive, "A Head of Christ by Rembrandt", Fogg Art Museum Acquisitions, 1964 (1964), pp. 38-41, p. 39 repr.
  • [Reproduction only], "A Head of Christ by Rembrandt", Fogg Art Museum Newsletter, (May 1965).
  • Seymour Slive, "An Unpublished Head of Christ by Rembrandt", Art Bulletin (1965), v. XLVII, no. 4, pp. 407-417, repr. in color as Plate I
  • "Harvard Given Rembrandt Oil", Boston Herald American (April 13, 1965), pp. 1, 6
  • Kurt Bauch, Rembrandt Gemalde, Walter de Gruyter and Co. (Berlin, 1966), repr. b/w as no. 213 p. 12
  • Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture from the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, exh. cat., Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, 1967), ill. n.p.
  • Horst Gerson, Rembrandt Paintings, Meulenhof International (Amsterdam, 1968), p. 395 repr. as no. 322
  • Abraham Bredius, Rembrandt: the Complete Edition of the Paintings, ed. Horst Gerson, Phaidon (London, 1969), repr. p. 526 (Br. 624A)
  • Israel Shenker, "When is a Rembrandt?", Art News (January 1973), pp. 48-50
  • Alan Levy, "The Rembrandt Research Project: Old myths, new methods", Art News (September 1976), pp. 34-42, p. 36 repr.
  • Seymour Slive, "Rembrandt at Harvard", Apollo (June 1978), vol. 107, no. 196, pp. 452-463, p. 88 and repr. b/w as fig. 18 p. 93
  • Gary Schwartz, Rembrandt zijn leven, zijn schildreijen (Maarssen, Netherlands, 1984), repr. in color as no. 319 p. 285
  • Josua de Bruyn and Ernst van de Wetering, A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings: 1635-1642, M. Nijhoff Publishers (The Hague and Boston, MA, 1986), vol. VI, pp. 605-609, repr. p. 606 as fig. 5
  • Peter C. Sutton, A Guide to Dutch Art in America, Netherlands-American Amity Trust and Eerdmans (Washington, D.C. and Grand Rapids, MI, 1986), p. 42
  • Kristin A. Mortimer and William G. Klingelhofer, Harvard University Art Museums: A Guide to the Collections, Harvard University Art Museums and Abbeville Press (Cambridge and New York, 1986), no. 191, p. 167, repr.
  • Edgar Peters Bowron, European Paintings Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum: A Summary Catalogue including Paintings in the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1990), p. 126, repr. as no. 123
  • Alex Beam, "A cloud hangs over Rembrandt at the Fogg", The Boston Globe (Boston, MA, October 14, 2004)
  • George S. Keyes, Masters of Dutch Painting, exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, MI, 2004), pp. 176-179, repr. in b/w as fig. 5
  • Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr., Rembrandt's Late Religious Portraits, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art/University of Chicago Press (Washington DC, 2005), pp. 121-125, repr. in b/w as fig. 2
  • Susan Lumenello, "Picturing an Exhibition: On the Making of 'Rembrandt'", Colloquy [Harvard Alumni Quarterly] (Fall 2006), pp. 2-3, 11, p. 3
  • Lloyd DeWitt, Blaise Ducos, and George S. Keyes, Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus, exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art, Publications Department (Philadelphia, 2011), pp. 3, 31, 35, 38, repr. p. 39 as fig. 2.12 (detail), 40, 47 (note 17), 50, 52, 54, 58, 60, cat. no. 39, repr. p. 61 as pl. 2.5, 66, 68, 70, 91, 109, 147, 150, 153-156, 157 (note 2), 166, 199, repr. p. 204 (infrared), repr. p. 205 (x-radiograph), 241
  • Lloyd DeWitt, Blaise Ducos, and George S. Keyes, Rembrandt et la figure du Christ, exh. cat., Musée du Louvre and Officina Libraria (Paris and Milan, 2011), pp. 3, 31, 35, 38, repr. p. 39 as fig. 2.12 (detail), 40, 47 (note 16), 50, 54, 58, 60, cat. no. 39, repr. p. 61 as pl. 2.5, 66, 68, 70, 91, 111, 147, 150, 153, 155, 156, 199, repr. p. 204 (infrared), repr. p. 205 (x-radiograph), 244
  • Christopher Brown, "Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus" [review], The Burlington Magazine (May 2012), CLIV, no. 130, pp. 375-376, p. 375
  • Jeroen Giltaij, Het grote Rembrandt boek: Alle 684 schilderijen, WBOOKS (Zwolle, 2022), p. 484, no. 669, repr.

Exhibition History

  • Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture from the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, 10/12/1967 - 12/03/1967
  • Rembrandt: A Selection of his Works, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 10/18/1984 - 12/11/1984
  • Masterpieces of European Art, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 06/22/1985 - 09/15/1985
  • The Portrait, Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 10/15/2004 - 01/09/2005
  • Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus, Musée du Louvre, Paris Cedex 01, 04/21/2011 - 07/18/2011; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 08/03/2011 - 10/30/2011; Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, 11/20/2011 - 02/12/2012
  • 32Q: 2300 Dutch & Flemish, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/10/2019 - 09/15/2021

Related Works

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu