Kenwood house paintings

Exhibition Location: European Paintings, second floor

Kenwood House, the London museum that holds the art collection known as the Iveagh Bequest, is closed for renovations until fall 2013.

By special arrangement, Rembrandt’s Portrait of the Artist (ca. 1665), which has never before traveled outside Europe, is on loan to The Metropolitan Museum of Art through May 20, 2012.

Rembrandt self-portrait, 1659

This great canvas now hangs next to the Metropolitan Museum’s own Self-Portrait by Rembrandt of 1660, providing a rare opportunity to compare the two works which, although close in date, are utterly different in scale, format, and expression.

Both were painted during a period of economic difficulties for the artist. The loan is also an occasion for the Museum to bring together in one gallery the late Rembrandts from the collection, including Aristotle with a Bust of Homer (1653), Hendricke Stoffels (mid-1650s), The Standard Bearer (1654), and Woman with a Pink (ca.

1660-64).

Throughout his career Re