kottke.org

Jason Kottke's weblog, home of fine hypertext products

New Rembrandt Painting Discovered

A painting from 1633 called Vision of Zacharias in the Temple has been newly identified by Rijksmuseum researchers as an authentic Rembrandt van Rijn. It had been decades since the painting was examined — art historians have access to all kinds of new techniques and information about Rembrandt’s methods and materials.

Vision of Zacharias in the Temple was shown at the major Rembrandt exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam in 1898. In 1960, however, it was excluded from Rembrandt’s oeuvre. A year later, a private collector purchased the work, after which it disappeared from public view. Only recently did the current owner contact the Rijksmuseum, allowing the painting to be examined again after 65 years.

The two-year investigation shows that all the pigments used also appear in other paintings by Rembrandt from the same period. The build-up of the paint layers and the handling are likewise consistent with his early work.

The painting is executed on two oak panels from trees grown in the south-east of Lithuania, a common wood source in the seventeenth century. The dimensions and construction correspond to panels Rembrandt frequently used. Dendrochronology (tree-ring dating) confirms that the inscribed date “1633” is plausible.

Here’s the back of the painting (the whole analysis is interesting):

Vision of Zacharias in the Temple goes on display at the Rijksmuseum tomorrow. (via the history blog)

Tags: art · rembrandt · rijksmuseum

The Guardian

Latest news, sport, business, comment, analysis and reviews from the Guardian, the world's leading liberal voice

‘People are gripped by huge fear’: defiance and hope on the streets of Tehran

Bombarded by the US and Israel, Iranians worry about how to survive – and what comes next

Fear, defiance, and quiet celebration intermingled in Tehran with everyday chores, local people said, as Iran’s capital continued to be rocked by American and Israeli airstrikes.

Residents said that many people had moved to the countryside or were trying to do so, believing it was safer away from military targets. In Tehran, military and police installations are located in residential areas and there were rumours security forces were moving into schools and mosques.

Continue reading...

Benign transition or bloody civil war: what next for Iran after the bombing?

With the US and Israel apparently without a postwar plan for the country, we explore four possible scenarios

Piecing together what US and Israeli officials have said about the attack on Iran, its objectives appear to be to inflict maximum damage on the pillars of the country’s power, specifically its nuclear and missile programmes and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The ultimate objective however, as repeatedly expressed by Donald Trump at least, is to pave the way for a popular uprising that would sweep away the cleric-led regime that has run the country for 47 years. Trump has presented the devastating assault as a once-in-a-lifetime chance for the people of Iran to “take back your government”.

Continue reading...

Calls for lifetime ban on Czech coach who filmed female footballers in changing room

  • Petr Vlachovsky given a suspended prison sentence

  • He has not been banned from coaching abroad

The Czech player union has called for a lifetime football ban for a coach who avoided jail despite being convicted of secretly filming his female players in the changing rooms and showers with a hidden camera.

Petr Vlachovsky was convicted in May 2025, without a public hearing, and handed a suspended one-year prison sentence and a five-year domestic coaching ban, after being found to have filmed 14 players at FC Slovacko over a four-year period. He was also caught in possession of child sexual abuse material.

Continue reading...

An expat in Dubai has a startling revelation: the Stephen Collins cartoon

Continue reading...

Why some British expats in Dubai insist it’s business as usual – despite Iran war

Amid schadenfreude back home as UK nationals express their fears, others say they are not leaving anytime soon

It is not always seen as a positive when the ruling family of a dictatorship makes a public show of mingling among the people.

On Monday, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the royal who is both president of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Abu Dhabi, joined Dubai’s crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, for a stroll around Dubai’s mall, before settling down alongside awkward looking officials on the banquette-style seating at one of its most visible cafes.

Continue reading...

VK: Voorpagina

Volkskrant.nl biedt het laatste nieuws, opinie en achtergronden

Hoe rauwer de wereld, hoe gevaarlijker de Europese machteloosheid

MetaFilter

The past 24 hours of MetaFilter

sick bodies doing what they do

"...one turns to fictional horrors because there are so many horrors in reality. Where else, we ask, to put the feelings, pending revolution? A scary movie shrinks the world's horrors down into, not manageable exactly, but bounded, feelable parcels. In a landscape dense with quiescent cultural products, horror is anti-anesthetic." Sophie Lewis, Square Peg, Round Hole.

Wel.nl

Minder lezen, Meer weten.

Irak vreest olieproductie fors te moeten verminderen door oorlog

DUBAI (ANP/RTR) - Irak zal worden gedwongen binnen enkele dagen zijn olieproductie flink te verminderen als olietankers niet vrij kunnen bewegen door de Straat van Hormuz. Twee Iraakse oliefunctionarissen melden dat de productie dan met meer dan 3 miljoen vaten per dag moet worden teruggebracht.

Door de verstoringen in de export vanuit de Straat van Hormuz zijn de opslagniveaus in de zuidelijke havens van Irak volgens hen gedaald tot kritieke niveaus. Irak heeft sinds dinsdag de productie op het Rumaila-olieveld al met 700.000 vaten per dag verminderd. Op het West Qurna-2-veld worden 460.000 vaten per dag minder olie geproduceerd, aldus de functionarissen.

De Straat van Hormuz is een belangrijke zeestraat voor olietankers. Ongeveer een vijfde van al het vloeibaar gemaakt aardgas (lng) in de wereld passeert de Straat van Hormuz. Iran meldde eerder de zeestraat te hebben afgesloten voor de scheepvaart.

Maandag besloot Qatar al voorlopig te stoppen met de lng-productie vanwege de aanvallen op energiefaciliteiten door Iran.


thexiffy

Last.fm last recent tracks from thexiffy.

Moby - Move _ Moby

Moby