Painting thought to be imitation turns out to be real Rembrandt

An oil sketch, previously thought to be an imitation, has been found to be a painting by Dutch master Rembrandt. For a century, it languished in a forgotten corner of museum. Art experts in the Netherlands unveiled the oil sketch on Thursday (November 3). Rembrandt is known for his famous works like "The Night Watch" and "The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp".

"The Raising of the Cross," the painting in question was long thought to be an imitation of the original probably made by a follower of Rembrandt.

But now the Bredius museum in The Hague, where the sketch has been on display since it was bought in 1921, has revealed, thanks to new scientific techniques, it was in fact painted by Rembrandt.

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"The quality of the details are so well done that I am convinced that this is a Rembrandt," said Johanneke Verhave, who restored the sketch.

Verhave studied the artwork along with Jeroen Giltaij who first "rediscovered" it while doing research for a book on Rembrandt about a year ago. Giltaij is former chief curator of old paintings at Rotterdam's Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum.

"I looked at this work again and again. At the brush strokes. They are brilliant," Giltaij told AFP.

"Just a few broad brush strokes" convinced him the sketch was indeed the genuine article," he said.

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The artwork was first bought by the museum's original curator Abraham Bredius in 1921. He too was convinced the sketch was an original Rembrandt.

But over the years, art experts dismissed it as a "crude imitation".

(With inputs from agencies)

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