Rembrandt’s Ancient Obsessions Are Made Anew in Upcoming Met Exhibition
The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Musée du Louvre are co-organizing a major retrospective examining Greco-Roman and biblical influences across Rembrandt’s oeuvre, opening at The Met in November 2027 before traveling to Paris in 2028. This marks the first comprehensive Rembrandt presentation at the American institution in over two decades, assembling more than 125 works spanning paintings, drawings, prints, and historical reference materials from both museums’ collections alongside international loans. The exhibition contextualizes the Dutch master’s practice within the Dutch Golden Age’s intense antiquities-collecting culture, when merchants and scholars amassed extensive holdings of classical artifacts and texts. The concurrent proliferation of printed editions of ancient philosophical and scientific works—enabled by recent advances in printing technology—profoundly shaped Rembrandt’s engagement with classical sources. Notable loans include Rembrandt’s monumental “Oath of the Batavians” from the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts, appearing in the United States for the first time.
Original article published on Hyperallergic — AI-generated summary. Visit the website to read the full article at the source. Image via Hyperallergic.
