The Rise of the Cult of Rembrandt: Reinventing an Old Master in 19th-century France

by Alison McQueen

Rembrandt's life and art had an almost mythic resonance in nineteenth-century France with artists, critics, and collectors alike using his artistic persona both as a benchmark and as justification for their own goals. This first in-depth study of the traditional critical reception of Rembrandt reveals the preoccupation with his perceived "authenticity," "naturalism," and "naiveté," demonstrating how the artist became an ancestral figure, a talisman with whom others aligned themselves to increase the value of their own work. And in a concluding chapter, the author looks at the play Rembrandt , staged in Paris in 1898, whose production and advertising are a testament to the enduring power of the artist's myth.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art

388 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

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