Victorian art lovers have a rare opportunity to see one of the most extensive collections of works by 'Old Master' Rembrandt to have been exhibited in Australia over the coming months.
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Rembrandt: True to Life has opened at NGV International in Melbourne and will be on exhibition until September 10.
The exhibition is the most comprehensive collection of the prolific seventeenth century Dutch artist's work to be shown in Australia in more than 25 years.
Widely regarded as the most important of the Dutch Realists, the exhibition traces Rembrandt's extraordinary four decade career.
It emphasises the Dutch master's innovations in printmaking by showcasing more than 100 etchings drawn from the NGV Collection, along with a wide range of paintings that have been loaned from public collections worldwide.
Audiences will learn to appreciate Rembrandt's inventiveness, his brilliant re-imagining of biblical subjects and development of psychological complexity in his narrative scenes and portraits.
Rembrandt was the first artist to comprehensively explore the possibilities of etching and his printmaking will serve as the centrepiece of the exhibition.
NGV director Tony Ellwood said the emphasis on printmaking was a great way to showcase one of the gallery's greatest strengths.
"Rembrandt was a master printmaker and his experimentation in the medium reveals his insatiable curiosity and sheer versatility as an artist," he said.
The exhibition also examines some of Rembrandt's incredibly frank self portraiture, his uncompromisingly realistic approach to nude portraiture and his landscape work.
The gallery is located on St Kilda Road and admission fees apply. For more information click here.
