Is it a Rembrandt?
Client: Northwestern University, Art History Department (via The Institute for the Learning Sciences)
Project: Educational software
My role: Instructional designer/developer
Tools used: Custom software developed by ILS
Project Description
Recently, the art community has come to question the authenticity of many works previously attributed to Rembrandt. Attribution is no easy task. Rembrandt's workshop model of painting raises an interesting question: for a painting done by both student and master, is it a Rembrandt? To answer this question, scholars examine features of a painting such as subject, composition, and palette; they review conservation records; and they perform scientific tests such as X-rays and pigment analysis.
The "Is it a Rembrandt?" program, built in collaboration with Professor Larry Silver, formerly of Northwestern University's Art History Department, introduces art history students to these issues by having the student determine the authenticity of three Rembrandtesque paintings. By inspecting the painting, running laboratory tests, and asking art experts questions (via a video archive of over 450 clips), students gather evidence that they later use to argue for an attribution. Throughout this process students encounter the complex issues surrounding connoisseurship and attribution, and learn more about both painting in general and Rembrandt in particular.
Sample Screens
Learn about your task:
Inspect the painting:
Compare the painting to others:
Run a laboratory test:
Ask an expert:
Decide the painting's attribution by building an argument from the evidence you have gathered:
Get feedback from the curator:
Source Material
The Art Institute of Chicago. Museum curator's and conservator's files for three paintings: Young Woman at an Open Half-Door (1894.1022); Old Man with a Gold Chain (1922.4467); Portrait of a Young Woman (1932.1175). The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
Bader, Alfred. Interview by The Institute for the Learning Sciences. Videotape recording, Milwaukee, Wis., 16 January, 1997.
Bomford, David, et al. Art in the Making: Rembrandt. London: The National Gallery, 1988.
Brown, Christopher, et al. Rembrandt: The Master and His Workshop: Paintings. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Aspects of Connoisseurship. 2 vols. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1995.
Milwaukee Art Museum. The Detective's Eye: Investigating the Old Masters. Milwaukee: Milwaukee Art Museum, 1989.
Rembrandt Pavilion web site. Part of the Internet 1996 World Exposition.
Scallen, Catherine. Interview by The Institute for the Learning Sciences. Videotape recording, Evanston, Ill., 18 and 19 December, 1996
Schwartz, Gary. Rembrandt: His Life, His Paintings. Harmondsworth, Middlesex; New York: Viking, 1985.
Schwartz, Gary. "Truth in Labeling." Art in America (December 1995): 50-111.
Silver, Larry. Interview by The Institute for the Learning Sciences. Videotape recording, Evanston, Ill., 6 and 26 September, 1996; 18 and19 December, 1996
Silver, Larry. Rembrandt. New York: Rizzoli, 1992.
Silver, Larry. "Rembrandt." Encyclopaedia Britannica. Vol. 26 (1988 ed.).
Digital images
Aert de Gelder, Dutch, 1645-1727, Portrait of a Young Woman, oil on canvas, c. 1690, 66.9 x 53.3 cm, Wirt D. Walker Fund, 1932.1175. Used with permission.
Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (or follower), Dutch, 1606-1669, Young Woman at an Open Half-Door, oil on canvas, 1645, 102.5 x 85.1 cm, Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection, 1894.1022. Used with permission.
Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, Dutch, 1606-1669, Old Man with a Gold Chain, oil on panel, c.1631, 83.1 x 75.7 cm, Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Kimball Collection, 1922.4467. Used with permission.
For further reading
The Art Institute of Chicago. Rembrandt after Three Hundred Years: An Exhibition of Rembrandt and His Followers. Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1969.
Gerson, Horst. Rembrandt Paintings. New York: Reynal, 1968.
Haak, Bob. The Golden Age: Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1984.
Silver, Larry. On-line image database and commentary for Art History C30-3, Renaissance Art: France, the Netherlands, and Germany from the 14th to the 16th centuries. Department of Art History, College of Arts and Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., 1995.
Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art; New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Credits
| ILS Director: | Roger Schank |
| Associate Director: | Alex Kass |
| Manager, ILS/Northwestern Software Projects: | Kemi Jona |
| Manager, Rembrandt Project: | Greg Saunders |
| Content and Design: | Thomas Cassell Denise Conanan Mark Swanson |
| Art Historians: | Dr. Alfred Bader (Alfred Bader Gallery, Milwaukee) Prof. Catherine Scallen (Case Western Reserve Univ.) Prof. Larry Silver (content advisor, Northwestern Univ.) |
| Graphic Design: | Carolyn Caballero Stith Thomas Cassell |
| Video Production: | Mark Schaefer (director) Denise Conanan Tony Kern Mark Swanson Laurel Koroncey Thompson Mike Zandlo |
| Talent: | Joanne Raleigh, as museum curator Versonya DuPont, as TV news reporter Thomas Cassell, extra Denise Conanan, extra Mark Swanson, extra |
| Programming (INDIE Tool): | Chris Riesbeck (faculty advisor) Wolff Dobson (graduate student) Steve Silverstein (programmer) Seth Tisue (graduate student) |
| Web Site: | Mark Swanson |
Special thanks to:
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