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Rembrandt on a roll at the Getty

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You’ll have to wait a while to see a really big Rembrandt event at the J. Paul Getty Museum. That will be “Drawings by Rembrandt and His Pupils: Telling the Difference,” a landmark exhibition reflecting 30 years of scholarly research on disparities between the 17th century Dutch master’s drawings and those of his students and followers. Opening Dec. 8, the show will be stocked with pairs of similar drawings that clarify what, exactly, makes a Rembrandt a Rembrandt.

In the meantime, you might check out the museum’s permanent-collection display of Rembrandt paintings, temporarily expanded by two loans.

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“Saint Bavo,” from the Göteborgs Konstmuseum in Sweden, is the latest painting from afar to make a Southern California appearance after undergoing extensive treatment at the Getty’s conservation lab. Painted between 1662 and 1665, near the end of the artist’s life, the dark, brooding portrait depicts a religious figure wearing a plumed hat and holding a falcon in his left hand.

Some scholars attribute the painting to the School of Rembrandt and dispute the identity of the subject, but others contend that the portrait is a work by the master that portrays Bavo, a medieval Dutch nobleman who converted to Christianity.

Mark Leonard, the Getty’s senior paintings conservator, spent months bringing the painting back to life. He removed varnish and latter-day repainting that had darkened and changed color over time, obscuring Rembrandt’s brushwork, details of the saint’s costume and images in the background. The restored artwork will be on view through Nov. 21 and then return to Sweden.

“Portrait of a Rabbi,” a circa 1640-45 painting from an unidentified private collection, is also on display at the Getty, through early March 2010. You can see the visiting artworks in the East Pavilion paintings galleries.

-- Suzanne Muchnic

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