Rembrandt exhibition as Hunterian Art Gallery reopens
The Hunterian Art Gallery at Glasgow University has reopened to the public with a special exhibition on Rembrandt.
The venue closed nine months ago for a major refurbishment which has allowed more works to be put out on display.
The new exhibition, Rembrandt and the Passion, tells the story of the Dutch painter's Entombment Sketch, which is part of the Hunterian collection.
It is being displayed with a number of loaned works, including masterpieces never seen before in Scotland.
Featuring about 40 works, the exhibition will explain how the Entombment Sketch relates to one of the most significant commissions of Rembrandt's career - a series of paintings of the Passion of Christ, produced for the Prince of Orange between 1632 and 1646.
Exhibition curator, Peter Black, said: "This exhibition really tells a story - it brings together examples of Passion paintings and drawings in order to show how Rembrandt developed our Entombment painting.
"There are interesting relationships with works by his contemporaries. We also know in detail about the contents of the artist's house in 1656 and this tells us, for example, in which room our painting was hanging at that moment.
"He kept it in his living room, so probably it was a work he was still thinking about."
For the first time ever, the exhibition displays the Entombment Sketch alongside the finished Entombment painting from Rembrandt's famous series, on loan from the Alte Pinakothek in Munich.
Other important loans include Rembrandt's drawing The Entombment after Mantegna from The Metropolitan Museum in New York, and Rubens' Sketch for the Descent from the Cross from The Courtauld Gallery in London.
The exhibition will also include the results of recent X-ray and pigment analysis on the Entombment Sketch, which has given new insights to art scholars.
Members of the public will also be able to access The Hunterian's permanent collection, including the world's largest display of the works of James McNeill Whistler and a collection of Scottish art from the 18th Century to the present.
Director of The Hunterian, Prof David Gaimster, said: "Creating this special exhibition at The Hunterian is a great way to mark the re-launch of our art collections.
"Rembrandt and the Passion is one of the most significant exhibitions to be held here in our 200-year history.
"It offers a unique opportunity for researchers and members of the public to study these world-famous works together and at first-hand."