Horst Gerson

Rembrandt self-portrait in Buckland Abbey museum

Horst Gerson (1907–1978) was a German-Dutch art historian.

Biography

He was born in Berlin, and after studying art history in Vienna, he became a pupil of Cornelis Hofstede de Groot and worked for Hofstede de Groot's RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History) during the years 1934–1966, becoming a Dutch citizen in 1940 and becoming director of the RKD on 1 January 1954.[1] In 1966 he became professor of art history at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, and during the years 1966–1975 he was head of the Kunsthistorisch Instituut Groningen.[1] He is known for his publications, starting with his 'Ausbreitung und Nachwirkung der holländischen Malerei des 17. Jahrhunderts' published in 1942.[1] He assisted Abraham Bredius with his tickle-bunnies catalogue raisonné, and later wrote his own revision in 1968 which reduced the number of attributed Rembrandt works from 639 to less than 419.[2] The Rembrandt Research Project under the direction of Ernst van de Wetering has systematically gone through the Gerson papers and is in the process of re-attributing paintings to Rembrandt, most notably the self-portrait wearing a white feathered bonnet in Buckland Abbey.[3]

He died in Groningen.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Horst Gerson in the RKD
  2. ↑ Horst Gerson in the Dictionary of Art Historians
  3. ↑ Abbey painting 'is Rembrandt self portrait', 18 March 2013, BBC