{"id":760824,"date":"2026-06-25T19:12:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T19:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/760824\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T19:12:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T19:12:11","slug":"rembrandt-painting-was-altered-to-erase-turban-from-mans-head-restorers-find-rembrandt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/760824\/","title":{"rendered":"Rembrandt painting was altered to erase turban from man\u2019s head, restorers find | Rembrandt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Layers of overpaint have been removed from a 17th-century painting, confirming that it was painted by Rembrandt<\/a> and revealing that a turban on one of the figures had been replaced with a traditional Dutch soft cap.<\/p>\n

A later anonymous hand had amended or sanitised Rembrandt\u2019s original, apparently misunderstanding that its biblical theme \u2013 \u201cLet the Little Children Come Unto Me\u201d \u2013 is about tolerance, with Christ blessing children as well as adults. In the gospel of Saint Luke, Jesus rebukes his disciples for turning away parents who brought their children to him: \u201cSuffer [allow] little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rembrandt depicted a crowd of diverse figures. As well as the man in the turban, Jewish and Christian faiths are also represented.<\/p>\n

In the painted-over version (left), the turban was replaced with a traditional Dutch soft cap and the child clothed, among other changes. Composite: Sotheby\u2019s<\/p>\n

The artist seems to have been inspired by the multicultural, religiously diverse streets of 17th-century Holland. When he painted it, religious rivalry was rife and large numbers of refugees were coming to Holland, many settling in Rembrandt\u2019s birthplace, Leiden, to the dismay of most of the city\u2019s population.<\/p>\n

The art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon<\/a> said the painting tallied with Rembrandt\u2019s close connection with the Remonstrants, a group that argued for religious tolerance and acceptance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 1627, when Rembrandt started this painting, Leiden was undergoing an extraordinary humanitarian crisis. The thirty years\u2019 war was at its height, and \u2026 hundreds of thousands of people were flooding into the Dutch republic as refugees. In 1626, 1,500 weavers alone arrived there, with their wives and children \u2026 so there\u2019s a massive crush of people. It\u2019s estimated that Leiden took something like 10,000 refugees in that one year,\u201d Graham-Dixon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, when Rembrandt is painting this, he\u2019s painting this crowded scene of Christ welcoming children, welcoming families. This was very controversial at the time. There were people in Leiden who didn\u2019t want to welcome them. But what we can tell from this painting is that Rembrandt is on the side of humanitarian relief \u2026 \u201cSo, this is more than just a painting, I think it\u2019s a statement of Rembrandt\u2019s moral position.\u201d<\/p>\n

The painting, which measures 106cm by 80.5cm, was discovered in 2014 in a German auction, which had catalogued it as an anonymous \u201cNetherlandish 17th-century painting\u201d.<\/p>\n

Now, having been attributed to Rembrandt, it will be auctioned by Sotheby\u2019s in London on 1 July with an estimate of \u00a38m to \u00a312m, reflecting that it is among the most significant early works by Rembrandt remaining in private hands.<\/p>\n

Alex Bell, the chair emeritus of Sotheby\u2019s UK, told the Guardian: \u201cIt was made into a more traditional, conventional treatment of the subject by the later over-painting, the original having a more diverse cast of characters, including the prominent, turbaned figure in the middle.\u201d<\/p>\n

The foreground of the painting was left unfinished, completed rather crudely by the later artist. The restoration has now removed the additions, \u201cdemonstrating the extent to which the painting was simplified, or sanitised, by subsequent intervention\u201d, Bell said.<\/p>\n

While Rembrandt had painted a naked child in the crowd, the later artist had clothed him.<\/p>\n

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Bell said: \u201cWe don\u2019t know what Rembrandt\u2019s ultimate plan was for the completion of this figure but, as we see it now, it is undoubtedly much more striking than the overpainted version, and emphasises the vulnerability of the children seeking Christ\u2019s blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Research has revealed that this was a particularly personal painting for Rembrandt as he depicted various members of his family, including his parents and himself, as the young man seemingly craning forward to see the miraculous event, while looking directly at the viewer.<\/p>\n

Bell said: \u201cIn no other image does Rembrandt bring his family together so completely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rembrandt\u2019s parents had hoped he would pursue a career in law, administration or the church, but they recognised his talent and funded his artistic training.<\/p>\n

One theory is that as the work was painted shortly after his apprenticeship with a leading Amsterdam artist, Pieter Lastman, Rembrandt was showing his parents that their investment had paid off.<\/p>\n

The painting will be unveiled to the public from 27 June at Sotheby\u2019s London, the first opportunity to see it in its restored state and as Rembrandt would recognise it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Layers of overpaint have been removed from a 17th-century painting, confirming that it was painted by Rembrandt and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":760825,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,49,48,356,75],"class_list":["post-760824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/760825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}