Remembering: Ernst van de Wetering (1938-2021)

Van de Wetering became a team-member of the Rembrandt Research Project in 1968 and its chairman in 1993. Originally trained as a painter and art-historian, he worked from 1969-1987 in the Amsterdam based Central Research Laboratory of Objects of Art and Science. From 1987-2002 he taught at the University of Amsterdam and in 2003/2004 he was Slade Professor at the University of Oxford.

He is considered one of the world's foremost specialists on Rembrandt and his work. His contributions to our knowledge about the famous Dutch artist can hardly be overstated.

In 1997, he authored the widely acclaimed monograph Rembrandt. The Painter at Work which was published by AUP (2nd ed. 2008). 2014 saw the publication of his monumental oeuvre catalogue Rembrandt's Paintings Revisited: A Complete Survey; the concluding volume of A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings. In Rembrandt. The Painter Thinking (AUP, 2016), the revelatory sequel to Rembrandt: The Painter at Work, Van de Wetering again reveals how Rembrandt became the revolutionary painter that would continue to fascinate the art world.

Ernst Gombrich on Rembrandt. The Painter at Work: "Who would not have wanted to look over Rembrandt's shoulder while he painted? Among the countless books on Rembrandt, that by Ernst van de Wetering comes closest to conveying something of this experience because the author combines the qualifications of a trained connoisseur and of a practising painter."

Jan-Peter Wissink, AUP's Managing Director: "Ernst was an extraordinary human being with many extraordinary stories, a great scholar and a world-renowned expert on Rembrandt. We will greatly miss Ernst and the kitchen table conversations with Carin and Ernst in their house."