Rembrandt’s “The Judgment?” The plot thickens….
Well, well, well, what have we here? 
I blogged about a pen-and-ink drawing, reported to be Rembrandt’s “The Judgment,” which was stolen from a private exhibition at the Ritz Carleton Marina del Rey. Then, two days later, the drawing was recovered when an unknown person abandoned the piece at a priest’s house at a church in Encino. The L.A. Times reported that there were some questions as to whether the small drawing was really the work of Rembrandt van Rijn, as claimed by the owner, the San Francisco Bay Area-based Linearis Institute! The Institute claims that “The Judgment” is a signed work of the 17th century Dutch master Rembrandt van Rijn, completed in 1655 and worth $250,000. According to that piece by the Times:
“None of the curators, art historians and other preeminent Rembrandt experts contacted by The Times since the theft were familiar with the drawing, including Gary Schwartz, one of the world’s top Rembrandt scholars and director emeritus of CODART, the international council of curators of Dutch and Flemish art. Schwartz did not comment specifically on the piece’s authenticity but said he does not believe the drawing has ever been published in scholarly literature on Rembrandt.
Most of the experts were reluctant to comment publicly on an art piece they had not seen in person or to wade into a potentially controversial issue, but several expressed doubts that it was Rembrandt’s work, based on images of it published online.
Dr. Martin Royalton-Kisch, retired curator of Dutch drawings at the British Museum, said in an email that based on the style of the drawing, “It’s clearly (in my personal opinion) a work of Rembrandt’s school rather than by Rembrandt himself.”
A number of experts pointed to a six-volume catalog of Rembrandt’s work by Otto Benesch as the definitive compilation of drawings that experts generally accept as belonging to the master, although there is much disagreement even among scholars about which works should be included in the list of known Rembrandts.
The Times reviewed the Benesch volumes, and the drawing identified as “The Judgment” was not included. It also does not appear on a list of 70 authenticated, signed Rembrandt drawings compiled by scholar Peter Schatborn.”
According to the L.A. Times, representatives of the Linearis Institute have not responded to multiple phone calls and emails about the theft and requesting more information about the work.
TODAY, an L.A. Times article states that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigators are REFUSING TO RETURN the purported Rembrandt and have questions about the authenticity and ownership of the piece! Investigators have consulted literature and have spoken to experts as far away as the Netherlands in their attempts to determine the authenticity of the piece.
“We can’t for the life of us verify that it is” a Rembrandt, said Steve Whitmore, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman.
Whitmore also said that the Linearis Institute has not provided a history of sales or other proof of ownership of the work, and now the investigators question Linearis Institute’s ownership of the piece! An attorney who represents Linearis said that the Institute questions the ability of the Sheriff’s Department to protect the work and may seek a court order to have it returned!
According to Whitmore, the question of ownership of the piece is now more important than the ongoing theft investigation. Klein acknowledges that the Linearis Institute has no “provenance” (the detailed sales history of a piece that is often used to provide proof of authenticity) for the piece!
Sheriff’s Department investigators have reportedly demanded, according to Klein, that Linearis representatives come to Los Angeles and “submit to a two-hour interrogation” before the piece would be returned!
IMHO, it is beginning to look like “two hours” might be an UNDERESTIMATE in this artistic mystery. Stay tuned!
-Bill at
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