The complete catalogue of Rembrandt's paintings, compiled by the leading Rembrandt experts of the time. It is the second complete catalogue of his works ever made, a remarkable achievement in the history of art. The 595 different paintings, many of which were here attributed to Rembrandt for the first time, are beautifully reproduced with full-page photogravures. The two largest paintings, de Nachtwacht (the Nightwatch) and de Staalmeesters (the Sampling Officials), have even been printed on two pages. These stunning volumes are the result of 12 years of research. They were printed in limited number and initially only distributed to subscribers. The present edition, printed on Holland paper, consisted of only 500 copies. The present work is number 196.
The work describes and depicts Rembrandt's paintings in chronological order, with each volume focussing on a different time period of his career. The paintings are all accompanied by a short description. The final volume shows Rembrandts life as a whole. It starts with a short biography, shows paintings that are only known from etchings, and discusses letters and other documents written by Rembrandt, which are also included in the catalogue as photogravures. The work offers a complete overview of what was known about Rembrandt's life and work at the time.
The first Rembrandt catalogue, published in 1836 by John Smith, contained 614 different paintings. When art historian Wilhelm Bode (or Wilhelm von Bode, 1845-1929), together with art historian Cornelis Hofstede de Groot (1863-1930), published the present catalogue 60 years later, concensus about Rembrandt's oeuvre had changed. He rejected many of Smith's attributions, but also added around 60 new discoveries. The most major one was The man with the golden helmet, which Bode bought for the Gemäldegallerie in Berlin when he was the curator there. Unlike Smith, Bode was also interested in Rembrandt's drawings, prints, and letters, because he believed Rembrandt had to be studied as a whole in order to truly understand him and his work. As such, he became a leading expert on Rembrandt and hugely influenced the acquisitions of museums and private collectors.
While Bode and Hofstede de Groot attributed almost 600 works (mainly paintings) to Rembrandt, experts now attribute approximately 250 paintings to Rembrandt himself, ascribing many others to his students and working in Rembrandt's atelier. Nevertheless, the present work is of vital importance for the general understanding of Rembrandt and his works.
A few of the volumes have white chalk spots on the front board and the back turn in. The cloth title-pages are somewhat scratched around the edges, the blank leaves at the start and end of each volume are discoloured, the front flyleaves of volume 5 and 8 are creased, the tissue paper protecting each plate has discoloured the surrounding leaves, the upper outer corner of p. 107 in volume 2 has torn, without affecting the text, the tissue paper of plate 486 in volume 7 has detached. Otherwise in very good condition. Cf. Wheelock, A. K., Issues of attribution in the Rembrandt workshop, National Gallery of Art online.