This event will be presented in person and livestreamed. Registrations have now closed. If you have purchased a livestream ticket, click on the link above and enter the password provided. A recording will be available for ticket holders via the same link.
Celebrating the opening of Rembrandt: True to life, the most comprehensive exhibition of Rembrandt’s work to be held in Australia in over twenty years, the NGV hosts an afternoon of talks that give insight into the artist’s creative innovation.
Sharing the latest research into Rembrandt’s sources of inspiration and working method, including his experimental printmaking techniques and unorthodox painting style, the afternoon will include illustrated presentations by NGV curators and a keynote by world-leading US-based Dutch art scholar Paul Crenshaw, Associate Professor at Providence College in Rhode Island (joining live via video link).
Order of Proceedings
12.00pm – 12.05pm Welcome
12.05pm – 12.25pm Introduction to Rembrandt
Speaker: Petra Kayser, Curator, Prints and Drawings, NGV
12.25pm – 12.45pm Rembrandt: Experimental Etcher
Speaker: Cathy Leahy, Senior Curator, Prints and Drawings, NGV
12.45pm – 1.05pm A Fresh Look at Rembrandt’s Portraits
Speaker: Laurie Benson, Curator, International Art, NGV
1.05pm – 1.10pm Break
1.10pm – 1.35pm Rembrandt’s Social Life: Family, friends, and finances
Speaker: Paul Crenshaw, Associate Professor, Providence College (joining live via video link)
1.35pm – 2.00pm Discussion and audience Q&A
This event will be presented in person and livestreamed. When registering, you can choose to book an in-person ticket or a virtual ticket to access the livestream.
Speakers
Dr Paul Crenshaw is Associate Professor of Art History at Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. He is a former president of Historians of Netherlandish Art and has published widely on Rembrandt’s life and work; his publications include Rembrandt’s Bankruptcy (Cambridge University Press, 2006).
Dr Petra Kayser is Curator of Prints and Drawings at the NGV. Her interests include the production, iconography and reception of German Renaissance art, and the cultural history of early modern prints. She has curated numerous exhibitions, including Goya: Drawings from the Prado Museum (2021).
Cathy Leahy is Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings at the NGV. Cathy has curated numerous exhibitions at the NGV including William Blake, 2014; John Wolseley – Heartlands and Headwaters, 2015; Luminous: Australian Watercolours 1900–2000, 2016 and Colony: Australia 1770–1861 / Frontier Wars, 2018. In 2018 she curated the NGV blockbuster exhibition Escher x nendo: Between Two Worlds and most recently curated Fred Williams: The London Drawings (2022).
Laurie Benson is Curator of International Painting and Sculpture Before 1980 at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). In 1997 he acted as co-ordinating curator on the exhibition Rembrandt: A Genius and His Impact for the NGV and the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.