Scholar Attributes Chicago Rembrandt Copy to the Master, Sparking Attribution Debate

Art historian Gary Schwartz contends that a painting displayed at the Art Institute of Chicago, previously considered a workshop copy of Rembrandt van Rijn's 'Old Man with a Gold Chain' (1631), was actually created by the Dutch master himself. The original work has been part of the museum's collection since 1922. Since autumn, both versions have been exhibited together at the Chicago institution, with the copy on loan from the Sir Francis Newman Collection in the UK until May 17. It will subsequently appear at the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel this summer for the exhibition 'Rembrandt 1632: Creation of a Brand.' Schwartz argues that Rembrandt could have produced autograph replicas, challenging the long-held view that he did not create such copies. He presented his case to curators and scholars in Chicago in late December, noting that while no one dismissed his theory outright, consensus remains elusive. Justus Lange, curator of the Kassel exhibition, plans to include the disputed piece to explore the broader question of copies and replicas in Rembrandt's oeuvre, suggesting Rembrandt may have operated more as an entrepreneur than a solitary genius. This debate occurs amid ongoing reattributions in Rembrandt scholarship, exemplified by the recent authentication of 'Vision of Zacharias in the Temple' (1633) by the Rijksmuseum, which had been dismissed as a copy decades ago. Schwartz criticizes the former dominance of the Rembrandt Research Project, led by Ernst van de Wetering, which once drastically reduced the number of accepted works. The exhibition's title references 1632 as a pivotal year when Rembrandt established himself in Amsterdam, increased his output, and began signing works with his first name, marking the birth of his brand.