Rembrandt's First Masterpiece

A focused look into Rembrandt’s “first masterpiece,” featuring essays chronicling the painting’s early history and the evolution of the artist’s narrative style.

Rembrandt’s (1606–1669) Judas Returning the Thirty Pieces of Silver (1629), which scholars have long recognized as his first mature work, demonstrates many of the characteristics that would come to define the artist’s style: dramatic lighting, a rhythmic harmony of composition, and an exceptional ability to convey the emotional drama of a scene. This ambitious work was completed when Rembrandt was twenty-three years old and is seen as the then-aspiring artist’s impressive claim to establish himself as a history painter.

Accompanying an exhibition at the Morgan Library & Museum, this catalogue ties together the early context of Judas and the painting’s role in the evolution of Rembrandt’s narrative style. Featuring essays penned by Per Rumberg and Holm Bevers, the book also includes an excerpt from the autobiography of Constantijn Huygens, the famous seventeenth-century Dutch diplomat and connoisseur who was among the first to recognize Rembrandt’s talent and genius.

Published by the Morgan Library & Museum

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