Rembrandt, portraits and theatre

This 2011 video is called Rembrandt van Rijn – De Nachtwacht (BBC).

The celebration of Rembrandt’s birthday continued after the artists participating in the contest had been awarded their prizes.

There was a theatre play. It was a parody of a Dutch TV show, in which art experts discuss objects brought by people who discovered them on attics etc. In the second act, Rembrandt himself came with a self-portrait. The TV art “expert” did not recognize it as a Rembrandt, and thought it might be worth 100 euro.

Then, there was a lecture by art historian Els de Baan about portraits in the age of Rembrandt. On many of these portraits, especially women have handkerchief-like pieces of cloth in their hands. These were not handkerchiefs for wiping one’s nose; they were more like status symbols.

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