{"id":49679,"date":"2025-02-25T08:35:22","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T06:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/curatorial.ro\/uncategorized-en\/mnars-only-clearly-authenticated-rembrandt\/"},"modified":"2025-02-25T08:35:22","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T06:35:22","slug":"mnars-only-clearly-authenticated-rembrandt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/curatorial.ro\/en\/art\/mnars-only-clearly-authenticated-rembrandt\/","title":{"rendered":"MNAR&#8217;s only clearly authenticated Rembrandt"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The only clearly authenticated Rembrandt van Rijn painting in the National Art Museum of Romania (MNAR) is &#8220;Haman before Esther&#8221;. It is on permanent display in the European Art Gallery, in the room bearing the painter&#8217;s name, where are on permanent display two other works once thought to have been painted by him, but later attributed to his studio and school. These are Portrait of a Woman (attributed to the Rembrandt School) and David Cutting Saul&#8217;s Cloak (Rembrandt Workshop). Works attributed to the Rembrandt School are also held in the museum&#8217;s storerooms.   <\/p>\n<p>The original work, oil on canvas, of impressive size (236 x 186 cm), comes from the Collection of King Carol I. The painting was extensively restored at the Rijksmuseum in 1999, after which a study was published. The conservation work has brought the colors, their brilliance and details back to life. <\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_49659\" style=\"width: 1310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-49659\" class=\"size-full wp-image-49659\" src=\"https:\/\/curatorial.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Rembrandt-Haman-in-fata-Esterei-mnar-curatorial.jpg\" alt=\"rembrandt, haman in front of esthea, mnar, curatorial\" width=\"1300\" height=\"933\" srcset=\"https:\/\/curatorial.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Rembrandt-Haman-in-fata-Esterei-mnar-curatorial.jpg 1300w, https:\/\/curatorial.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Rembrandt-Haman-in-fata-Esterei-mnar-curatorial-502x360.jpg 502w, https:\/\/curatorial.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Rembrandt-Haman-in-fata-Esterei-mnar-curatorial-1019x731.jpg 1019w, https:\/\/curatorial.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Rembrandt-Haman-in-fata-Esterei-mnar-curatorial-768x551.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-49659\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">&#8220;Haman in front of Esther&#8221; on show at MNAR, curatorial<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s the only Rembrandt in the MNAR that has been clearly authenticated, without a doubt,&#8221; art historian M\u0103lina Con\u021bu, head of the museum&#8217;s European Art section, emphasizes on &#8220;Haman before Esther&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Conceived in the 1620s and completed in the 1660s, X-radiographs of the work revealed that Rembrandt changed his mind about the position of Esther&#8217;s face. It has been altered, having previously been far to the right of the painting. <\/p>\n<p>It is characterized by the baroque style and the dramatic use of light and shadow, a technique called tenebrism, both of which Rembrandt skilfully used to achieve emotional depth.<\/p>\n<p>This religious painting depicts a critical and tense moment in the biblical story of Esther. Haman, once an esteemed nobleman, is in a vulnerable position, pleading for his life. He is shown on his knees, holding out his hand to Esther, who stands &#8211; physically and symbolically &#8211; above him. Esther, the Jewish queen of the Persian king Ahasuerus, is depicted with a determined but thoughtful expression, suggesting the weight of Haman&#8217;s fate in her hands.   <\/p>\n<p><em>MNAR&#8217;s European Art Gallery can be visited from Wednesday to Friday from 10:00 to 18:00, and on Saturdays and Sundays from 11:00 to 19:00. Admission is free on the first Wednesday of every month. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The only clearly authenticated Rembrandt van Rijn painting in the National Art Museum of Romania (MNAR) is &#8220;Haman before Esther&#8221;. It is on permanent display in the European Art Gallery, in the room bearing the painter&#8217;s name, where are on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":49658,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6965],"tags":[7051,7158,7159],"class_list":{"0":"post-49679","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-art","8":"tag-inspiration","9":"tag-mnar-en","10":"tag-rembrandt-van-rijn-en"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/curatorial.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/curatorial.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/curatorial.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/curatorial.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/curatorial.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/curatorial.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/curatorial.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/curatorial.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/curatorial.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/curatorial.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}