PROGRAM | Masterpiece Lecture
Rembrandt’s self-portraits have always captivated art lovers for their compelling visual power. The artist made them throughout his career--in paintings, drawings and etchings--constantly exploring new aspects of his complex personality. He rarely posed in the same way or with the same expression; he generally wore different types of clothes; and he constantly varied his appearance with creative light effects. With the Gardner Museum’s magnificent Rembrandt Self-Portrait, Aged 23 serving as the point of departure, this lecture will look at the various ways Rembrandt approached his self-portraits over the course of his career. It will examine the artist’s intent in making these images, a question that has perplexed scholars over the years.

TICKETING | Includes Museum admission
Adults / $15
Seniors / $12
Members / Free; must reserve in advance
College students / $5

Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr., an expert on seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish art, is Curator of Northern Baroque painting at the National Gallery of Art and Professor of Art History at the University of Maryland. He has received a number of grants and other distinctions throughout his career, including the Johannes Vermeer Prize for outstanding achievement in Dutch art. He has been named Knight Officer in the Order of Orange - Nassau by the Dutch government and Commander in the Order of Leopold I by the Belgium government. He is author of Perspective, Optics and Delft Artists around 1650, Jan Vermeer, Vermeer and the Art of Painting, Dutch Painting of the Seventeenth Century, and Flemish Painting of the Seventeenth Century. He has written numerous articles and reviews in art journals, including the Art Bulletin, Burlington Magazine , Oud Holland, Simiolus, Connaissance des Arts, and Artibus et Historiae. A noted authority on Vermeer and Rembrandt, he has lectured widely on those two masters.

Among the exhibitions Professor Wheelock has organized are Gods, Saints & Heroes: Dutch Painting in the Age of Rembrandt; Anthony van Dyck; Johannes Vermeer; Jan Steen: Painter and Storyteller; A Collector's Cabinet; From Botany to Bouquets: Flowers in Northern Art; Aelbert Cuyp; Rembrandt's Late Religious Portraits; Pride of Place: Dutch Cityscapes of the Golden Age; Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered; and Elegance and Refinement: The Still-Life Paintings of Willem van Aelst.

The Museum receives operating support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Media Sponsor: Boston Globe Media, Inc.