Mistaken Identity

How do you tell a Rembrandt from a non-Rembrandt? Even the experts have been stumped, and they’ve been stumped for centuries since Rembrandt himself passed away. Drawings by Rembrandt and His Pupils: Telling the Difference, an exhibition at The J. Paul Getty Museum through February 28, 2010, tries to untangle the web of confusion spun in many ways by the very teaching practices Rembrandt himself used when passing on his wisdom to the next generation of artists. Please click over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Mistaken Identity."

[Image: Rembrandt, Dutch, 1606–1669. Christ as a Gardener Appearing to Mary Magdalene, about 1640. Pen and brown ink, corrections with white gouache, indented for transfer. 15.4 x 14.6 cm (6 1/16 x 5 3/4 in.) Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. De Bruijn–Van der Leeuw, 1949; EX.2009.1.62. Courtesy of The J. Paul Getty Museum.]

[Many thanks to The J. Paul Getty Museum for providing me with the image above and a review copy of the catalogue Drawings by Rembrandt and His Pupils: Telling the Difference.]