Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 105. (Budapest, 2006)
ANNUAL REPORT - A 2006. ÉV - JUDIT SEBŐ: Rembrandt 400: Etchings and Drawings
Rembrandt's etchings and drawings clearly demonstrate his unceasing self-examination and his keen observation of the human emotions. Our attention was drawn towards this particular aspect by the twelve self-portraits made between 1630 and 1651, and arranged as a sort of introduction to the exhibition. Along with his artistic development through the various themes, it is possible to follow the course of his work and to become more and more familiar with his methods of etching, the way he explored its hidden possibilities. The mastery of the technique permitted him to depict human emotions and relations, which he usually expressed through the stories of biblical figures, in an accurate and evocative manner. The "series" of nudes, shown separately, taken out of the chronological order, just like the self-portraits, presented Rembrandt's development from the meticulous, naturalist rendition to the perceptible, personal rendering of light, shade and spatial conditions. The nudes are particularly conspicuous examples to show the results of Rembrandt's experimentations and alterations on the copperplate. As he became more skilled in his craft he felt increasingly at liberty to alter his compositions, sometimes significantly reworking them in the 1650s, not only in this nudes, but also in his many-figured, grand-scale compositions. This is why it was important to display a later version of the Ecce homo as well as an earlier version of the Three Crosses, borrowed from the Albertina, and placed at the side of the prints kept in our Museum's collection. The "Rembrandt 400" was not the first exhibition in which works by Rembrandt were displayed at the Museum of Fine Arts, and not even the first one completely devoted to him. In 1965 and in 1969—the latter commemorating the 300th anniversary of the artist's death — no other than Teréz Gerszi curated the respective exhibitions of Rembrandt's etchings and drawings. Nevertheless, the fact that 120 thousand people visited the recent exhibition is a clear indication that Rembrandt never becomes outdated and that his w r orks always deserve to be exhibited. On the one hand, there will alw r ays be people who have not yet encountered his œuvre; and on the other hand there is still always something new for those who are already familiar with his work. "Rembrandt 400" revealed the master as an artist who constantly sought to explore, and one who preferred to recreate rather than respect traditions. However, above all else the exhibition showed Rembrandt as a man of empathy. J/idit Sebő
