National Celebration Rembrandt and the Golden Age 2019 Officially Underway

In 2019, the 350th anniversary of Rembrandt’s death is being commemorated with a host of activities in various Dutch cities: www.rembrandt-2019.nl

 With the opening of the exhibition Rembrandt and the Mauritshuis by Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrix on Thursday evening, the year-long celebration Rembrandt and the Golden Age 2019 is now officially underway. Throughout the year, exhibitions and activities commemorating Rembrandt’s death 350 year ago in Amsterdam will be taking place throughout the Netherlands.  Museums, cultural institutions and historic cities are working together to celebrate Rembrandt and the Golden Age 2019. Five museums are presenting special exhibitions about the old master’s work: the Fries Museum, Mauritshuis, Rembrandt House Museum, Rijksmuseum and Museum De Lakenhal.

Rembrandt and the Mauritshuis
The Mauritshuis has one of the world’s most important holdings of Rembrandt’s paintings. 2019 has been designated a national Rembrandt Year, and the museum will exhibit all eighteen paintings that were once acquired as ‘Rembrandts’ for the occasion. Of this group of eighteen, eleven are still considered authentic works by Rembrandt, or have been reattributed to him. They include the renowned works The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp, Saul and David and Rembrandt’s self-portrait of 1669. The presentation also includes five paintings that are no longer attributed to the master himself, and two paintings that have a ‘question mark’ over their authorship.

Celebrations at the Fries Museum, Mauritshuis, Rembrandt House Museum, Rijksmuseum and Museum De Lakenhal

Rembrandt and Saskia – Love in The Dutch Golden Age is currently on view at the Fries Museum (until 17 March). The exhibition is a ‘romantic journey’ into the seventeenth century when the young artist Rembrandt married the Frisian Saskia Uylenburgh.