Research data on Helsinki’s Rembrandt available online
30 August 2018
The Sinebrychoff Art Museum Finnish National Gallery in Helsinki presents technical documentation on their Reading Monk in The Rembrandt Database.
The Sinebrychoff Art Museum has been so generous to share the recently made X-ray assembly of the Reading Monk through The Rembrandt Database. The museum is planning a research project on their Rembrandt painting. The documentation that will be generated during this technical examination of the painting, will in time also be made accessible in The Rembrandt Database.
In 1956 the Reading Monk was exhibited in The Netherlands as part of the major Rembrandt exhibition held at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the Museum Boymans in Rotterdam (now Museum Boijmans van Beuningen). After this exhibition, the Reading Monk was treated in the conservation studio of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, probably by the then employed conservator H.H. Mertens (1905-1981). During this treatment, some technical documents were made, such as infrared photographs. These documents are still kept at the Rijksmuseum and have now been made accessible online. Aside from this, sample documentation from the Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE) in Amsterdam/Amersfoort on the Reading Monk was also added to The Rembrandt Database.
Many thanks to Ira Westergård, Chief Curator, who worked in close collaboration with the RKD on the online presentation. And also to our collaborating partners the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the Cultural Heritage Agency in Amsterdam/Amersfoort, who have provided part of the data.