Looking for Rembrandt 

The life and art of the quintessential 17th century Dutch painter Rembrandt.

Stars:

Toby Jones, Paul Crenshaw, David de Witt

Cast

Series cast summary:
Toby Jones	...	Rembrandt 3 episodes, 2019
Paul Crenshaw	...	Himself - Associate Professor of Art History, Providence College, USA 3 episodes, 2019
David de Witt	...	Himself - Senior Curator, Rembrandthuis Museum 3 episodes, 2019
Taco Dibbits	...	Himself - Director, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 3 episodes, 2019
Thomas S. Kaplan	...	Himself - Founder, The Leiden Collection 3 episodes, 2019
Raymond 'Typex' Koot	...	Himself - Writer and Illustrator of 'Rembrandt' 3 episodes, 2019
Harmen Snel	...	Himself - Senior Archivist, City Archive of Amsterdam 3 episodes, 2019
Leonore van Sloten	...	Herself - Curator, Rembrandthuis Museum 3 episodes, 2019
Mariet Westermann	...	Herself - Art Historian, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation 3 episodes, 2019
Jonathan Bikker	...	Himself - Curator of Research, Rijksmuseum 2 episodes, 2019
Machiel Bosman	...	Himself - Author and Historian 2 episodes, 2019
Erik Hinterding	...	Himself - Curator of Prints, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 2 episodes, 2019
Petria Noble	...	Herself - Head of Paintings Conservation, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 2 episodes, 2019
Pieter Roelofs	...	Himself - Curator of 17th century Dutch Painting, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 2 episodes, 2019
Tico Siefert	...	Himself - Curator of Northern European Art, National Galleries of Scotland 2 episodes, 2019
Jane Turner	...	Herself - Head of the Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 2 episodes, 2019
Ilona van Tuinen	...	Herself - Curator of Drawings, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 2 episodes, 2019

Storyline

The life and art of the quintessential 17th century Dutch painter Rembrandt.

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Plot Keywords:

tv mini series | rembrandt | 17th century | painter | protagonist as narrator | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Biography

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 April 2019 (UK)

Company Credits

Production Co:

BBC Scotland, Matchlight

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Color:

Color

User Reviews

A great painter's life, loves and art in under three hours

This is a very good three-part documentary about the life of Rembrandt in Copenhagen. A lot of the narration is done by an actor we never see, who represents Rembrandt himself. The other presenters are art experts and art history professors. They all obviously love Rembrandt's body of work, but still they present a balanced telling of his life, warts and all as the saying goes. The narration by the Rembrandt character is so detailed and intimate that I was convinced the writer of the script must have worked from Rembrandt's letters or a journal, but I could not find a mention of any such source material.

A lot of the other information we learn about the artist is from sources from the city archives and the like, concerning birth and death notices and many other administrative documents. It is funny, but at the beginning of the first episode, they describe a theft of one of his paintings from an art gallery in Boston, but after they launch into his life story the theft is never mentioned again. But I looked it up and apparently it was never recovered. How sad that you or I would let a cashier in a store know if they give us too much change, so that their register wouldn't be wrong at the end of the day and cost them a few dollars, but somewhere out there are billionaires who are willing to pay millions for stolen art even though they can never show it to friends or family. The rich are different, aren't they?

The documentary is interesting but it is a quiet program. I found I dozed off near the end of the first episode. It wasn't boring, but the soft tone acted as a lullaby for me. I backed up seven minutes and resumed watching it when I was more rested. Perhaps a more vigorous soundtrack would have kept me from zoning out. This is why they don't have easy chairs in elevators with Muzak playing! Their interpretations of the artwork was fascinating and informative. Having these experts explore the meanings for us was like the difference between just reading Shakespeare yourself or having the plays deconstructed by literary professors. I feel like I know Rembrandt much better.