Mary Louise Schumacher has a nice essay in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel on Jan Lievens and Rembrandt:
The “Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered” exhibit, which opened at the Milwaukee Art Museum on Saturday, is a wonderfully redemptive survey that draws Lievens out from Rembrandt’s rather large shadow.
It is the most extensive exhibit of Lievens’ work anywhere to date and the first retrospective in the United States.
More than that, though, the exhibit raises questions about the very nature of history and how and why some threads get lost. It is comfortable with ambiguity and lays bare the unknowns in the artist’s life and oeuvre without leaving the narrative a confused tangle.
The show is a first, rough sketch of a prodigy and cocksure master who wielded paint with expressive freedom and dexterity. His commissions for the princes, nobles and well-heeled of northern Europe surpassed those of Rembrandt in his time.
Much Redeeming Value (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
