Rembrandt’s life in living colour
Who better to dish the dirt on one of the world’s most famous painters than a former apprentice.
For two hosted sessions of the Rembrandt Remastered exhibition at Te Manawa museum in Palmerston North, which comprises 57 digitalised full-sized restorations of the Dutch master’s work, Ferdinand Bol will be brought back to life by Palmerston North scholar and performer Ken Benn.
Basing the character on information from biographies of both painters, Benn as Bol is more than happy to let loose a skeleton or two from Rembrandt’s closet, while telling the compelling stories behind some of the artist’s most famous paintings.
‘‘Rembrandt’s apprentices had to pay 800 guilders a year for the privilege,’’ Benn said.
However, some of Bol’s stylistically similar portraits were attributed to Rembrandt. Benn said the premise for the character is that instead of dying, Bol has spent the last 300 or so years scouring galleries for more of his wrongly attributed paintings.
‘‘Although [Bol] was successful as a painter, he would always be in the shadow of Rembrandt, but he wants to set the record straight. So, he is now working as a janitor at Te Manawa looking for the portraits he painted,’’ Benn said.
And that’s why his reincarnation of a 17th century Dutch burgher is dressed in overalls, wearing a hi-vis vest, knitted beret, and carrying a broom.
Benn had performed similar types of character roles for Te Manawa during the past decade, resurrecting Leonardo for 2007’s Da Vinci Machines exhibition, and playing a Roman legionnaire for 2013’s The Roman Machines.
Bookings for the two hosted afternoon tours at 3pm on Saturday, April 8 and Saturday, April 22, are $15, which includes the $8 exhibition entry fee. There are also Rembrandt afternoon teas in the gallery.
Rembrandt Remastered on April 25. closes