Rembrandt: A Genius and His Impact

In recent years Rembrandt's oeuvre and influence have been hotly debated. A number of paintings hitherto said to be his, have been reattributed by some scholars to pupils or even to obscure followers, while other works have been radically reinterpreted. This lavishly illustrated book, containing essays by some of the world's leading scholars on seventeenth-century Dutch art, is the first critical review of the present state of Rembrandt studies finds itself in as a result.

A new tradition of painting grew up in the Netherlands in the seventeenth century, in which artists were encouraged to explore the limits of their own capabilities. Rembrandt's portraits and other portraits and other paintings laid bare the inner life of his human and religious subjects in a way equaled by none. Greatly interested in everything he saw, Rembrandt set down the landscapes, and the events that took place in his own surroundings, in works that make him one of the greatest artists the world has ever known.

Rembrandt: A Genius and his Impact is published to accompany a major touring show of paintings, etchings and drawings – which includes important examples by his pupils and followers – shown in Australia in 1997–8.