Rembrandt, Portrait of a Gentleman with a Tall Hat and Gloves, ca. 1656-58, Washington, National Gallery of Art, Widener Collection.

MADRID – The Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza is presenting Rembrandt and Amsterdam portraiture 1590-1670, which brings together a selection of portraits produced during the city’s Golden Age, with Rembrandt and his work as the key focus. This exceptional group of paintings and prints includes some of the greatest examples of this genre, both by Rembrandt himself – 22 in total – and by other artists of the period with the aim of revealing the wide variety and remarkable quality of their work. The exhibition will open on Feb. 18 and run through May 24.

Rembrandt is undoubtedly the most important of the 17th-century Dutch painters. While most artists of that period specialized in a particular genre he was renowned in numerous fields and not just as a painter but also as a draughtsman and engraver.

Portraiture was one of those fields but despite the fact that he achieved the highest level in this genre, as he did in all the others, no exhibition has previously been exclusively devoted to this aspect of Rembrandt’s activities.

The works are loaned from museums and collections worldwide, with notable contributions from the Amsterdam Museum, the Rijksmuseum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the National Gallery in London.

Most of the paintings have never previously been seen in Spain and in some cases they have almost never been loaned before, including the portrait of a young man from the Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas. Also notable is the group of prints loaned by the Biblioteca Nacional de España.

The exhibition is curated by Norbert E. Middelkoop and benefits from the collaboration of the Comunidad de Madrid and the support of JTI.

18 February - 24 May 2020

Rembrandt (1606-1669), Portrait of a Man, probably Thomas Brouart, 1632, © Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Rembrandt (1606-1669), Johanna van Merwede van Clootwijk, 1632, © Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Rembrandt (1606-1669), Woman in a Fur Cap, probably Hendrickje Stoffels, 1652, © The National Gallery, London

Rembrandt (1606-1669), Portrait of a Standard Bearer, possibly Jan van Halewijn, 1654, © Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Rembrandt (1606 - 1669). Portrait of a Lady with an Ostrich-Feather Fan, probably Maria van Sinnick, around 1655 © Washington, National Gallery of Art, Widener Collection

Rembrandt (1606 - 1669). Venus and Cupid (probably Hendrickje and Cornelia), around 1657 © Paris. Musée du Louvre. Département des Peintures

Rembrandt , Portrait of a Gentleman with a Tall Hat and Gloves, ca. 1656-58, © Washington, National Gallery of Art, Widener Collection.

Jan Tengnagel (1584-1635). Officers and other civic guardsmen of the XIth District of Amsterdam, under the command of Captain Geurt Dircksz van Beuningen and Lieutenant Pieter Martensz Hoeffijser Hoeffijser, 1613© Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum. Repository for the City of Amsterdam.

Frans Hals (1582 or 1583-1666). Portrait of a Member of the Haarlem Civic Guard, circa 1636-1638 © Washington, National Gallery of Art. Andrew W. Mellon Collection.

Dirck Van Santvoort (1610 or 1611-1680), The Governesses of the Spinhuis in Amsterdam, 1638, © Amsterdam Museum, Amsterdam.

Bartholomeus van der Helst (1613 – 1670), The headmen of the Arquebusiers’ Civic Guard House, 1655, © Amsterdam Museum, Amsterdam

Bartholomeus van der Helst (1613-1670). Portrait of a boy playing golf by the shore, around 1658-1659 © Colección privada