Abstract
As much as images created the landscapes of fictive history throughout the ages, the images themselves often had greatly mystified histories of their own. However, in certain instances the real history of an image is often far more intricate than the most incredible myth created around it. One such work is a long lost masterpiece – Rembrandt’s “Quint Fabius Maximus” from the State Art Collection of the Royal Compound in Belgrade (SAC). This study intends to research the real history of Rembrandt’s painting, its fate during the war and its reappearance in archival documents. It shows how images create histories themselves, not only through their subject matter or the politics of collecting but also through their incorporation into the public imagination.
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Notes
- 1.
In the greatest database of Dutch art, RKD, this painting is presented as the work of a follower of Rembrandt. It also states that the painting was lost after the Second World War, but it does not give any details. See RKD Follower of Rembrandt, Quintus Fabius Maximus, no. 204157, www.rkd.nl
- 2.
Abraham Bredius, Rembrandt-Schildrijen, Utrecht, 1935, cat. no. 477.
- 3.
Plutarch, Life of Fabius Maximus, vol. III, London, 1916.
- 4.
Camille Mauclair, “Rembrandt,” in Les Arts, 1911, 225.
- 5.
Frederik Schmidt-Degener, “Le troisième centenaire de Rembrandt en Hollande,” in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, October, 1906, XXXVI, 268.
- 6.
RKD entry for Follower of Rembrandt, Quintus Fabius Maximus, no. 204157, www.rkd.nl accessed 5.9.2015.
- 7.
See auction catalogue Sammlung Marczel von Nemes, Munich: Mensing en Zoon, 1931.
- 8.
Sammlung Marczell von Nemes, 44–48.
- 9.
Maryl Secrest, Duveen A Life in Art, London: Random House, 2004.
- 10.
For more information on the role of Prince Paul in the creation of the State Art Collection of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia see Jelena Todorović, “The Pursuit of Tradition…,” in Catalogue of the State Art Collection in the Royal Compound in Belgrade—European Art, vol. I, Platoneum, 2014, 14–41.
- 11.
Getty Research Institute, Duveen Brothers Records, 1925–1940, box 497, roll 352.
- 12.
Bredius, Rembrandt-Schildrijen, Utrecht, 1935, cat. no. 477.
- 13.
Archive of Yugoslavia, fund 804, the database of the Commission for Government Buildings.
- 14.
Archive of Yugoslavia, Reparations Commission of FNRY, fund 54, 319–483.
- 15.
Ibid.
- 16.
The Archive of the Monuments Fine Arts and Archives Division is kept in the US National Archives. www.archives.gov
- 17.
MFA&A, 22.10.1945/226 1571289.
- 18.
MFA&A, 22.10.1945/2/226 1571289.
- 19.
MFA&A 16.12.1945/226 1571289.
- 20.
MFA&A 21.9.1946/226 15711289.
- 21.
MFA&A 21.9.1946/2/226 15711289.
- 22.
MFA&A 4.8.1948/226/953.
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Todorović, J. (2017). The Painting and Its Histories: The Curious Incident of Rembrandt’s Painting Quintus Fabius Maximus . In: Gržinić, M., Stojnić, A., Šuvaković, M. (eds) Regimes of Invisibility in Contemporary Art, Theory and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55173-9_11
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