Jan Lievens (Dutch, 1607–1674), The Cardplayers, ca. 1623-1624. Oil on canvas, 38 7/16 x 41 9/16 in. Private collection. (Detail)

MILWAUKEE, WI.- The Milwaukee Art Museum has announced that the Dutch master Jan Lievens used Rembrandt van Rijn as a model in four works painted over approximately six years between c. 1623 and 1628. Highlighting the close working relationship between the artists, three of the paintings can be seen in Jan Lievens: Out of Rembrandt's Shadow February 7–April 26 at the Museum.

Recent research by exhibition curator Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr., curator of northern baroque painting at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., (where the exhibition was on view from October 26, 2008 though January 11, 2009), reveals that Rembrandt modeled for The Cardplayers, c. 1623–24 (cat. 3); Pilate Washing His Hands, c. 1625–26 (cat. 7); Youth Embracing a Young Woman, c. 1627–28 (cat. 12); and Lute Player, c. 1628 (cat. 13). The young Rembrandt (1606-1669) was portrayed with a head of dark curls, a slightly bulbous nose, rounded cheeks and full lower lip. The Cardplayers is the earliest known surviving portrait of Rembrandt, who models holding a pipe.

The faces in the four Lievens paintings closely resemble Portrait of Rembrandt which Lievens painted in 1629, following the years Lievens used his colleague as a model. Moreover, during the same time period, Lievens served as a model for a background figure in Rembrandt's Allegory of Hearing, c. 1625, and also in Music Lesson, 1626.

“Arthur Wheelock was personally responsible for all of the identifications of Rembrandt as a model in the cited paintings as he researched the exhibition catalogue,” notes exhibition collaborator Laurie Winters, curator of earlier European art at the Milwaukee Art Museum. “This remarkable discovery has been hiding in plain sight.”

LIEVENS AND REMBRANDT
Lievens, one of the most fascinating and enigmatic Dutch artists of his time, and Rembrandt were born in Leiden just over a year apart, studied with the same master, Pieter Lastman (1583–1633), and lived near one another until about 1632. Many parallels exist between the works that each produced in Leiden in the 1620s and early 1630s. Even though Lievens' career began earlier, he was often wrongly described as a follower or student of Rembrandt.

LIEVENS WORK ONCE ATTRIBUTED TO REMBRANDT
Nine paintings in the exhibition Jan Lievens: Out of Rembrandt's Shadow at the Milwaukee Art Museum were formerly attributed to Rembrandt between the 17th century and modern times, including Saint Paul, c. 1624–25 (cat. 4); The Feast of Esther, c. 1625 (cat. 6); Still Life with Books, c. 1627–28 (cat. 11); Portrait Head of an Old Woman (“Rembrandt's Mother”), c. 1630 (cat. 21); The Penitent Magdalene, c. 1631 (cat. 24); Preciosa and Doòa Clara, c. 1631 (cat. 26); Bathsheba Receiving King David's Letter, c. 1631 (cat. 27); Raising of Lazarus, 1631 (cat. 31); and Gideon's Sacrifice, early 1650s (cat. 47).

Jan Lievens (Dutch, 1607–1674), Pilate Washing His Hands, ca. 1625–1626. Oil on panel, 33 x 41 5/16 in. Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden, the Netherlands

Jan Lievens, The Lamentation of Christ, ca. 1640. Oil on canvas. Bayerisches Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich, Alte Pinakothek.

Jan Lievens, Self-Portrait, ca. 1629–1630. Oil on panel. Private collection.

Jan Lievens, Man in Oriental Costume (“Sultan Soliman”), ca. 1629–1631. Oil on canvas. Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg

Jan Lievens, Boy in a Cape and Turban, ca. 1631. Oil on panel. Private collection

Jan Lievens, Samson and Delilah, ca. 1628. Oil on canvas. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Jan Lievens, Landscape with Willows, early 1640s. Oil on panel. Frits Lugt Collection, Institut Néerlandais, Paris.

Jan Lievens, Lute Player, ca. 1627, revised ca. 1628. Oil on panel. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, Gift of the Dr. Francis D. Murnaghan Fund.

Jan Lievens, Fighting Cardplayers and Death, ca. 1638. Oil on canvas on panel. Private Collection.

Jan Lievens, Still Life with Books, ca. 1627–1628. Oil on panel. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Jan Lievens, Profile Head of an Old Woman (“Rembrandt’s Mother”), ca. 1630. Oil on panel. Collection of the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University. Gift of Alfred and Isabel Bader.

Jan Lievens (Dutch, 1607–1674), Self-Portrait, early 1650s. Oil on canvas. The National Gallery, London. Presented by Charles Fairfax Murray.

Jan Lievens, Prince Charles Louis with His Tutor, as the Young Alexander Instructed by Aristotle, 1631. Oil on canvas. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.

Jan Lievens, Portrait of Rembrandt, 1629. Oil on canvas. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, on loan from a private collection.