Haggerty Museum Announces Plan to Acquire Rembrandt Workshop Painting
Released: 09/23/03

The Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University today has announced plans to bring to Milwaukee The Philosopher , ca. 1650-1655, a painting long attributed to Rembrandt. Acquiring The Philosopher for the museum will be a project of the Friends of the Haggerty Museum in celebration of the museum's 20th anniversary in 2004.

The Philosopher surfaced in March at the Maastricht Art Fair in the Netherlands and again at the New York Armory Show in May. Curtis Carter, director of the Haggerty Museum of Art, saw the painting on a visit to the armory show. He determined to find a way to bring the painting to Milwaukee.

The Philosopher has long been attributed to Rembrandt because of its exceptional quality. It was reputedly in the collection of the archbishop of Canterbury during the first half of the 18th century (as Rembrandt), it passed into the collection of Maurice Kann, Paris (as Rembrandt) and Marcus Kappel, Berlin as (Rembrandt) and was with the Duveen Brothers, New York from 1928-48 (as Rembrandt). It was exhibited as a Rembrandt at the Royal Academy, London; The Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto; The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; The St. Louis Art Museum; Jeu de Paume, Paris; The Fogg Museum, Cambridge, Mass.; and, also in New York, Berlin and other venues throughout the world.

A similar “Philosopher” painting on panel, completed around the same time at the Rembrandt workshop, is located in the collection of the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.

“The museum is very excited to bring this important masterpiece to the Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University where it can be enjoyed by all,” said museum director Curtis L. Carter. “We anticipate that many visitors will come to the Haggerty to see this painting.” The painting is currently on display at the museum.

The Philosopher has long been recognized as a great masterpiece of 17th-century Dutch art. The painting was featured in the 1772 auction of the Louis-Michel van Loo collection in Paris. After its sale, the painting remained out of public view for over 130 years. In 1905, the painting was rediscovered by Willem von Bode and traveled widely as a work of Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69). The Philosopher was attributed to Rembrandt until 1969. Recent scholarship suggests that the painting is possibly by Willem Drost, one of Rembrandt's most gifted students and an important Dutch artist in his own right.

The man in the painting is the same model seen in “Aristotle Contemplating a Bust of Homer,” on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and “Bearded Man in a Cap,” at the National Gallery of Art in London.

The Rembrandt Workshop, housed in a warehouse on the Bloemgracht in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, was a traditional workshop in which the master instructed a limited number of students. The precise attribution of paintings in the Rembrandt workshop is complicated by the fact that Rembrandt sometimes worked on paintings with his students adding his own hand to the works. His exacting approach to painting led his students to paint like the master before developing their own recognizable style. These circumstances and the fact that scholars regularly change their minds on attributions makes it extremely difficult to establish with certainty the precise attribution of a particular work.

The Philosopher will join the collection of Old Master works at the Haggerty Museum of Art including Portrait of Piero di Domenico Pagni (1510) by Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, The Judgment of Paris (1631) by Paulus Moreelse and Christ at the Column (16th c.) by Giovanni Pietro Pedrini.

The Haggerty Museum of Art is located at North 13th and West Clybourn streets on the campus of Marquette University. Museum hours are Monday through Wednesday and Friday - Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Thursday from 10 a.m. through 8 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.. Free parking is available in the Mary B. Finnigan Parking Lot (enter on North 11th Street through Marquette Lot J). For more information on the Haggerty Museum call (414) 288-1669.