Rembrandt: A Novel
by Christian Tümpel
Category: Art, Dutch

A book which is the result of more than 20 years of research and offers new interpretations of the art of Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669). It was designed to be a catalogue raisonne of works by the artist or works traditionally attributed to him. In a text that incorporates his own scholarship as well as the latest findings of the Rembrandt Research Project, the author explores the development of Rembrandt's art through the story of the artist's life. First, Tumpel frees the iconographic interpretation of Rembrandt's art of its traditional literary connections. Second, he demonstrates that Rembrandt was inspired by various 16th-century visual materials and was therefore less original than was assumed until now. The author also analyzes the stylistic traditions of Rembrandt's time and ultimately presents a series of convincing interpretations of Rembrandt's famous history pieces.