The Catalogue

Cat. No. 160 (Figure 1)

The catalogue spans six volumes. Volume one starts with a preface by Otto Benesch describing his process and the idea behind the organization of the catalogue. Dr. Benesch separated Rembrandt's drawings into four main periods, spread through the six volumes, over the artist's life [Leiden Period (1625-31), Early Amsterdam Period (1632-40), Middle Period (1640-50), and Late Period (1650-69)]. These same time periods are often used in biographys of Rembrandt's life in order to give some chronological clarity to his evolution as an artist. Within each time period, Dr. Benesch further separates Rembrandt's drawings into subject categories such as religious matters, figure studies, portraits, landscapes and views, etc. Each category's works are then put in chronological order. Benesch did this in order to better exemplify the artist's growth and stylistic variations.