Overcoming Time: The Art of Producing Humanity

Highlights of The Leiden Collection in Amsterdam

Part II

Part I of this essay can be read here. 

History in Front of Us

The rare world-class exhibition about which I wrote an introductory essay earlier is on display in Amsterdam, celebrating the city’s 750th anniversary in the innovative, modern and elegant way, bringing to the stunned international public gems-only exhibition from the unique in several respects The Leiden Collection. 

Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection exhibition at the H’ART Museum, Amsterdam. Spring – Summer 2025. Photo (C) Inna Rogatchi

Where and when did we see nineteen original Rembrandts in one exhibition, given that the collection is private and the works on display do not belong to major art institutions? Where did we see the only Vermeer , from just 36 surviving works attributed to him, that is in a private collection? Where did we see the works of Gerrit Dou, whose all surviving seventeen works are currently in The Leiden Collection exclusively? I wrote about the unique Vermeer and also unique Rembrandt’s work on paper from this exhibition in the Part I of the essay. 

Such richness and intensity of art treasures in one show makes it uneasy for an art critic to survey it in detail, as the process of choosing the super-gems from all-star exposition is truly difficult. 

Rembrandt Puzzle

From the first step into the exhibition, one’s breath is taken away momentarily. The exhibition starts from a special glass vitrine hosting a stunning work of Rembrandt, his smallest known work in general, in a very special and elaborated  travelling box. This is also the only Rembrandt’s work created in a technique of  grisaille ( monochrome artwork in which the depth and volume are achieved by varying shades of one colour) which is privately owned.  

Rembrandt. Bust of a Bearded Old Man. 1633. In a special travelling box designed by Andrew W. Mellon. The Leiden Collection. With kind permission.

The elaborated traveling box looks highly unusual, and I asked the best possible expert,  The Leiden Collection Senior Adviser Arthur K. Wheelock Jr, who told me that “this special traveling box comes from the work’s previous owner, Andrew Mellon himself, who was always , or very often at least, travelling with his beloved small Rembrandt, just everywhere”.  No wonder that the founder of the National Art Gallery in Washington D.C. could not depart with this incredible small work, which he seemingly perceived as a personally important ‘talisman’ for himself. The work is miraculous. The more one is watching it, the more the miracle claims itself. 

Rembrandt. Bust of a Bearded Old Man. Oil on paper. 1633. 10,6 x 7,3, cm. ( C) The Leiden Collection. With kind permission.

In a breath-taken-away motion, the exhibition’s visitors are gazing in awe at several rare and rarely seen Rembrandt’s works right from the beginning of the exposition. Those works includes two very soulful portraits of Jewish personalities, young and old ones, in a masterly selected and set evocative dialogue, the  Portrait of the Man with Curling Hair  ( Portrait of a Young Bearded Man) and Portrait of an Old Man ( Possibly a Rabbi).

Rembrandt. Bust of a Young Bearded Man. C. 1656-1658. The Leiden Collection. With kind permission.

With fantastic, deep, striking works as they are, there is also a dizzy feeling of discovery present. In the case of the  Portrait of a Young Bearded Man, with its own unbelievable story, including the deliberate overpainting the work yet in the Rembrandt’s life-time, changing the subject from a Jewish man to a burger, the work was seen by public the last time a century ago, back in 1930 at the exhibition in Detroit, and once, just once, before that, in the end of the 19th century in London at the exhibition in 1899. And now Rembrandt’s young Jewish Man with Curling Hair is back to us – solely thanks to Thomas S. Kaplan,  and his superb team at The Leiden Collection. 

With regard to the Portrait of an Old Man ( Possibly Rabbi), there are many discussions among the Rembrandt experts, from the 19th century onward, on who was the sitter for his wonderful, warm and colouristically harmonious portrait,  and was it a rabbi,  indeed. We do not know. It looks very plausible, from several points of view and characteristics. At the same time, there was an artistic practice at the time when many artists were creating rabbi-like outfits for some of their sitters when they were aiming to portray a character which was known in the 17th century as ‘a learned man’.  

Rembrandt. Portrait of an Old Man ( Possibly a Rabbi). 1645. The Leiden Collection. With kind permission.

More about these two outstanding, breathing life works can be read about in the materials of my Rembrandt Today project. 

In a masterly thoughtful balance of an entire display, at another end of the exhibition  there is the extraordinary Rembrandt’s Portrait of a Seated Woman with Her Hands Clasped, made in 1660. The work grasps and keeps  you for a far longer time than many even great works of art do. The work, known as one of the brilliant achievements of the late Rembrandt, understandably  belonged to the most distinguished collections,  including the one of Sir Abraham Hume and  the Guggenheims. 

Rembrandt. Portrait of an Old Woman Seated with Her Hands Clasped. 1660. The Leiden Collection. With kind permission.

Before being acquired by The Leiden Collection with following many regular exhibitions worldwide from 2017 onward, the Woman with the Hands Clasped was not seen publicly for 30 years. And it really matters, twice so when the matter is such an outstanding piece of art, with powerful depiction of ageing, and its humane appeal.  

Among many great Rembrandt’s portraits exhibited now in Amsterdam, there is also one of his most gentle self-portraits, Self-Portrait with a Shaded Eyes, which was also returned to the wide public viewing  by the will of Thomas S.  Kaplan and his vision for sharing his collection, from 2003 onward.

In case of Rembrandt, uniquely for the entire Western art, with an exception of van Gogh only, but not in a full measure, the line of the artist’s self-portraits, with 40 oil paintings among a hundred of them, is a mighty and the best autobiographical novel of its own, which is essentially important for entire understanding of this unique artist. 

Created by the genius at the time of his emotional joy, soon after marrying Saskia and believing in a rise of his star of a successful and recognized historical and portrait artist in Amsterdam, this very portrait of many from Rembrandt’s self-depictions, has a clear and specific historical reference. It was done when young Rembrandt was happy and full of anticipation, and the portrait’s exceptional qualities reflects this period of hope and gentleness in his life. But this is not all about this great work. 

Rembrandt. Self-Portrait with Shaded Eyes. 1634. The Leiden Collection. With kind permission.

The Self-Portrait with Shaded Eyes has been participating in several important exhibitions internationally since recently.  But not before that, for centuries on. Just to think about it: one of the greatest Rembrandt’s works, created in 1634, and being in the private collections all the time, was not shown publicly for 370 years. Its return to public domain was regarded by art experts as ‘one of the art miracles of the 21st century’, quite justly. 

Additionally to that, the curators of the exhibition made a very elegant decision by grouping three more great artworks, one portrait and two self-portraits,  with this Rembrandt’s particular self-portrait. The other three portraits exhibited in Amsterdam now are masterly executed teaching, vision, palette and technique of Rembrandt in portrait and self-portrait by his very able students, who all did become known masters in their own rights. Isaac de Jourdeville who  produced his Portrait of Rembrandt in an Oriental Dress  ( 1631) did it very closely to Rembrandt’s own Portrait of Artist in an Oriental Costume.  Covert Flink and Ferdinand Bol’s self-portraits, both having a lots of parallels with known and certain self-portraits of Rembrandt. Bol’s work is quite similar with Rembrandt’s famous Self-Portrait in Age of 23, and Flink’s work so much resembles Rembrandt that it has been attributed to him until the middle of the 20th century. Shown at the same exhibition, those four self-portraits, by the teacher and his students, represent what is known as ‘a school’ in art, in the most vivid, engaging and elegant way.

Remarkable Discoveries 

In Amsterdam, one is lucky to see also not widely known works, the series, actually, of young Rembrandt’s, the Allegory of Senses. From presumably created five works, one is lost, the other one is the collection of the British Museum, and the three are representing this highly interesting entry into the beginning of the Rembrandt phenomenon in the Leiden Collection. 

Rembrandt. Allegory of Hearing. C. 1624-1625. The Leiden Collection. With kind permission.

Arthur K. Wheelock Jr.  shared with me just unbelievable, thrilling episode that occurred back in 2007, when The Leiden Collection received recently acquired works, one by Jan Lievens, his splendid Caravaggio-like Card Players, which is also at the display in Amsterdam, and one of the early Rembrandt’s very rare small Allegories of Senses, Allegory of Hearing.  “Well, the boxes arrived at the same time,  and we all , Thomas S. Kaplan , myself and  the handling team are in New York, full of excitement, as you can imagine. The boxes have been opened, the works have been taken out, the protection is removed, the works are unpacked, and I am having them in my hands, with Thomas ( Kaplan) standing next to me. When I saw the faces on the Lievens’ Card Players that close, I could not believe it. I turned to Thomas and asked him: ‘Who do you think is here, this young man with a pipe in the middle of the Lievens’  painting? It is Rembrandt himself!

Jan Lievens. Card Players. C. 1625. The Leiden Collection. With kind permission.

We both were just staring at the work in a complete ‘Eureka!” moment. It was the rarest episode, as one can imagine, having discovered the earliest portrait of Rembrandt ever, he was 19 at the Lievens’ work, which was done at the time when they were sharing the studio in Amsterdam. But it is not the end of it – because at the very same moment, simultaneously with Lievens’ work, the handling team has also unpacked Rembrandt’s Allegory of Hearing – and whom do you think we saw on that work?  Yes, his friend Lievens, who was 17 at the time, and that happened to be the earliest existing portrait of Lievens, and the first portrait of him done by Rembrandt. Can you believe in such coincidences?” – the great Dr Wheelock exclaimed. 

It truly is one of the greatest art history stories I’ve learned about, first-hand. And that luxury of knowledge  and bright spot of civility can be seen by anyone visiting the exhibition at which both the very first portrait of Rembrandt ever, and the very first portrait of great and gravely under-appreciated artist Jan Lievens, more, made by Rembrandt, are exhibited in the same hall, at the three meters distance one from another. 

Thanks to all that, and the fact that The Leiden Collection acquired both of those great works, we now know about these very first portraits created by initial close friends, colleagues and later quite strong competitors, Rembrandt and Lievens. It is amazing and gratifying to see the works at the exhibition in Amsterdam, and to learn and  feel the history of our civilisation in such an intimate and palpable way.  

“ Can you imagine what Rembrandt would say if he could see that moment of unpacking his and Lievens’ works portraying each other, at the same day and moment, in New York of all places?”  – Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. has definitely made my day in the course of our conversation. 

The glimpses into more of the great works by Rembrandt’s contemporaries at this fantastic exhibition will be covered in the Part III , concluding the survey of The Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection visiting Amsterdam. 

Amsterdam

May 2025

From Rembrandt to Vermeer. Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection. H’ART Museum. Amsterdam. April 9 – August 24, 2025.