‘Head of a Bearded Man’ could be genuine painting by Rembrandt

“Head of a Bearded Man,” a postcard-sized painting that was rejected as a fake, has been revealed to come from Dutch painter Rembrandt’s workshop, increasing the odds that it could be a work of his.

The Guardian reported Sunday that the painting might not be a fake, citing An Van Camp, a curator of northern European art at the Ashmolean museum in Oxford. “Head of a Bearded Man,” which the museum received in 1951, was rejected in 1981 by the Rembrandt Research Project, an authority on the artist, citing the painting was possibly drawn in the late 17th century, not in his lifetime. The painting had been stored away in the basement for almost 40 years since then.

Van Camp, however, saw typical characteristics of Rembrandt’s works in the painting in 2015 and asked Peter Klein to analyze it. It was established that the wood panel came from the same tree used for Rembrandt’s “Andromeda Chained to the Rocks,” an oak tree felled in the Baltic region. The museum will conduct further investigations to determine if it was drawn by Rembrandt.

This painting will be exhibited at “Young Rembrandt” at the Ashmolean through November.


Jae-Hee Kim jetti@donga.com