"Restoring Rembrandt and the Making of Art History," in Esther Van Duijn and Petra Noble (eds.), Rembrandt Conservation Histories, Archetype, 2021, pp. 21-29.

rijks 02 Etienne v1.1.indd 20 24/02/2021 11:34 ReStoRIng RembRandt and the maKIng of aRt hIStoRy NoémIe ÉtIenne INTRODUCTION A pastel by the Geneva-born painter Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702–1789) depicted the art amateur and banker François Tronchin (1704–1798) in front of one of his acquisitions, A Woman in Bed by Rembrandt, c.1645– 46, now preserved at the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh (Fig. 1).1 Tronchin is represented in a salon of grey woodwork and blue velvet. Two frames can be seen on the right and left of the image, alluding to his extensive collection of paintings. 2 The collector, wearing a wig, is calmly pointing to his acquisition with pride. The gesture of his hand suggests that he is explaining the painting in order to demonstrate his knowledge and expertise. Similarly, the compass on the table underscores the practical achievements of its owner, but owning a Rembrandt was in itself an important symbol of prestige and expertise in the 18th century. Tronchin possessed the painting for only two years – from 1754 to 1756 – nevertheless he decided it should be included in his portrait. The choice of Liotard as the artist to realise this pastel reflected both friendly ties and a deep familiarity of the contemporary artistic milieu,3 but Liotard did not appreciate Rembrandt’s art. In his Treatise on Painting (1781), he stated: ‘Rembrandt is crudely painted. … I agree that, seen from a distance, your painting is less ugly; but again, there is no gain in being less ugly as one is less seen.’4 Furthermore, in relation to such visible traces, he explained: ‘Brushstrokes are the ugliest manner, the farthest from nature; they owe, I would not say their credit (for the greatest artists never adopted them), but rather the sort of tolerance they are granted, to the idea that they lend painting force, vigour, relief and life.’5 Liotard concentrated his critique toward Rembrandt’s art on the notion of touche (brushstroke), as this came to be what encapsulated the master’s art during the 18th century. Indeed, Rembrandt became one of the most discussed and commented upon artists. This paper explores some of the connections between connoisseurship, the writing of art history, and restoration during the 18th and early 19th century in Paris. It argues that discourses on art promoted by connoisseurs impacted restoration practices; yet similarly, restoration also modulated the writing of art history as an emerging discipline. Beginning with observations on the restoration of Rembrandt’s engravings made by a French connoisseur in Paris and the ways the copperplates were modified during the 18th century, the discussion then focuses on how Rembrandt was described in the literature at the time. As the earlier quote by Liotard suggests, the notion of touche as a physical impasto that is visible on the surface of paintings started to emerge in the connoisseurial discourse: it was then praised (or criticised) as the proper mark of a painter such as Rembrandt, in effect his signature. Finally, restorations carried out on paintings around 1800 and their connection to the writing of art history are considered in a broader context. I believe that restoration is entangled with intellectual and visual conceptions linked to art history and the tradition of connoisseurship. In my perspective, restoration has been deeply associated with art history since its beginning, as interventions on artworks are inseparable from knowledge mediation and production.6 BETWEEN REPRODUCTION AND RESTORATION During the 18th century, collectors such as François Tronchin were drawn to Rembrandt’s paintings, but even more to his engravings. In a well-researched article, the Dutch art historian and curator Erik Hinterding studied Rembrandt’s engravings, focusing on the physical history of his copperplates.7 During the second half of the 18th century, many of Rembrandt’s original copperplates were in the possession of the French amateur Claude-Henri Watelet (1718–1786) (Fig. 2), a writer, artist, collector and amateur at the Royal FIG. 1 Jean-Étienne Liotard, François Tronchin, 1757, pastel on parchment, 38 × 46.3 cm, The Cleveland Museum of Art, inv. no. 1978.54, John L. Severance Fund. (Photo © The Cleveland Museum of Art.) NoémIe ÉtIenne rijks 02 Etienne v1.1.indd 21 21 24/02/2021 11:34 vocabulary aiming to communicate – to potential friends and clients – their particular expertise based on proximity to the artist’s material. Watelet not only observed his collection of engravings and copperplates, he also reproduced the images in his possession in order to establish familiarity with the master: ‘Not having such precious gifts myself, I engraved almost all the plates where I intended to imitate the process of the great painter … and I only allowed myself to decide my effects as I pleased.’ 10 Amateurs typically developed technical skills to improve their social status. In this context, Watelet explained that he copied Rembrandt, modulating only ‘the effects’, which in this case probably meant the level of chiaroscuro, darkness or legibility of the image. FIG. 2 Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Portrait of Claude-Henri Watelet, oil on canvas, c.1763, 115 × 188 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris, inv. no. R.F. 1982-66. (Photo © Wikimedia Commons.) Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris. Amateurs at the time were not only part of a social elite who could dedicate their leisure time to the practice of art – they were also collectors, authors and draughtsmen, in close contact with established artists and leading institutions connected to the monarchy. The exact number of copperplates that Watelet possessed is unknown, but Hinterding suggests that there were more than 80: probably between 81 (the number of plates for sale at the auction following Watelet’s death in Paris in 1786) and 83. A volume entitled Rymbranesques ou essais de gravures par C.H. Watelet, today preserved at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris, attests to Watelet’s specific interest in Rembrandt’s artworks. Watelet began by explaining that he had direct access to and contact with Rembrandt’s artworks. In the avertissement of this volume, the French expert detailed the ways he related to his collection, closely inspecting Rembrandt’s engravings: ‘I assured myself, after repeated observations, made through a magnifying lens.’8 As the French art historian Charlotte Guichard has recently shown, close scrutiny and technical examination became key practices for the definition of the amateur.9 Such approaches were also a rhetorical device used by art dealers and writers in small booklets and sale catalogues (two formats at the heart of early connoisseurial practices at the time), in order to ground the origin of their knowledge. Thus, those active in the art market as well as collectors developed both examination practices and a 22 rijks 02 Etienne v1.1.indd 22 The ability to draw and engrave was important for promoting connoisseurship and legitimating an amateur’s position in the art world. Before art history became established as an academic field at museums and universities, the (proto-) discipline was in itself a material process, not entirely distant from artmaking and restoration. For example, the art historian Kristell Smentek studied the case of Pierre-Jean Mariette (1694–1774), an engraver, dealer and collector who not only wrote about art but also collected engravings that he reshaped. He therefore interacted directly with the material he was describing, classifying and imitating, but also cutting and transforming.11 Watelet not only copied his Rembrandts, he also restored them. In his Rymbranesques he described his practice as: having had [my agent] purchase in Holland original copperplates by Rymbrand, most of them altered, erased or scratched by heavy and clumsy retouches, I ventured to bring back many of them to their original state, by consulting the good prints that have been preserved, and I succeed well enough to please educated eyes. I will publish some of them, amongst which shall be seen a painter drawing from the model, a plate that had been left half-done and which I finished.12 Watelet therefore situated his activity vis-à-vis earlier interventions on the copperplates, which he regarded as having a negative impact, with the intention of returning them to their initial condition. Watelet kept traces of his intervention and signed the copperplates: rather than shy away from publicity, he wanted to make his interventions visible, adding his name, the date and the nature of his modification to the original material. It is possible that, in his view, the addition would be regarded as an improvement thereby increasing the value of the engravings. For example, Watelet owned the copperplate of The Artist’s Mother RembRandt conSeRvatIon hIStoRIeS 24/02/2021 11:34 FIG. 3 Rembrandt, Rembrandt’s Mother with her Hand on her Chest, 1631, etching, 87 × 67 mm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. no. RP-P-OB-742. (Photo © Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.) with her Hand on her Chest (B. 349), which he reworked, adding the inscription ‘C.H.W. Reparavit 1760 Bruxelles’ (Fig. 3). Another copperplate, The Angel Departing from the Family of Tobias (Bartsch 43), was modified, signed and dated: ‘Restauré par Watelet 17…’ (restored by Watelet 17…). The use of the terms ‘repair’ and ‘restore’ to describe his practice suggests that he clearly understood it as an activity intended to repair a broken artwork.13 According to Hinterding, the other copperplates signed by Watelet were Man Drawing from a Cast (B. 130) and The Card Player (B. 136). Interestingly, the signatures are no longer visible on any of these plates and were probably erased by a subsequent owner. Thus the idea that adding his name to the plate might have a positive impact on their value or provenance was not validated by the next generation of collectors. Among such followers and collectors was the engraver and publisher Pierre-François Basan (1723–1797), who purchased a selection of about 78 copperplates formerly owned by Watelet. He or a restorer working for him probably modified them and they were certainly used in a book of prints known as the Recueil Basan, published in 1789.14 Later, between 1807 and 1809, his son, Henry-Louis Basan, published a new volume based on the same plates that he possibly retouched as well.15 THE BOLDNESS OF THE BRUSH It is not easy to precisely reconstruct the modifications made to Rembrandt’s copperplates by Watelet or the FIG. 4 Rembrandt’s Mother, 1631/1807, etching, 94 × 66 mm, published in Recueil Basan, New Hollenstein Dutch 87-5(6), Bartsch 349, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, inv. no. CB-13 (ZM)- FOL. Basan family, nor do we have contemporary testimonies of how these changes were perceived at the time. Comparing the various versions of the prints is helpful in order to evaluate the differences. For example, if The Artist’s Mother (1631) is examined in light of the version conserved in Paris at the Bibliothèque nationale de France as part of HenryLouis’s 1807 volume (Fig. 4), the differences are considerable: the latter image is darker and the general design (e.g. the face) appears more simplistic. The Parisian version resembles a copy of the previous one. Another interesting comparison is the print representing Faust (Fig. 5), owned by Watelet and then Basan, and also reprinted in 1807 (Fig. 6). Again, Basan’s version is oversimplistic and all the ambiguities of the earlier version – such as the apparition – have been obliterated.16 Faust’s face has been heavily transformed and appears far younger in the Basan version. The contrasts at the bottom of the table have been accentuated, resulting in the chiaroscuro of the images being heightened to the point of exaggeration. However, it is difficult to determine how many of the changes were created by Watelet, Pierre-François or Henry-Louis Basan or were simply due to worn plates. If we follow Watelet’s description of his own restoration method, he acted after considering different versions of the print. His choices were not fortuitous but careful, albeit irreversible – decisions aimed at obliterating earlier, inadequate modifications in order to return to the original ‘Rembrandt’. As mentioned above, his use of the terms ‘repair’ and ‘restore’ clearly demonstrate his intention not to NoémIe ÉtIenne rijks 02 Etienne v1.1.indd 23 23 24/02/2021 11:34 FIG. 5 Rembrandt, A Scholar in his Study (Faustus), c.1652, etching, 210 × 160 mm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. no. RP-P-OB-521. (Photo © Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.) modify or simply transform the copperplates but to fix them. The discrepancy between the vocabulary used by Watelet and the way we perceive most 18th-century restoration interventions today can be explained by our difficulty in identifying such practices. It is also revealing of the changing comprehension of how we understand the term ‘restoration’. However, his choice of words makes it clear that the intention beyond what today might be regarded as abusive interventions from earlier periods might have been motivated by the will not only to preserve an artwork but also to ‘rejuvenate’ some of the copperplates.17 Even though methods, tools and training have changed drastically since the 18th century, part of the work process that today’s conservators have developed springs from this connoisseurial tradition in restoration and the desire to ‘get back’ to the real Rembrandt. But which Rembrandt are we talking about? The ways in which Rembrandt emerged as an uncontested master are the product of many arthistorical discussions. Since the 18th century, numerous publications have attempted to mould how the Dutch artist should be understood and appreciated. In fact, the discourse on Rembrandt’s paintings has also transformed the way they were restored and reproduced. The idea of Rembrandt as not just a draughtsman but someone who also prioritised other pictorial qualities was to be repeated during the Enlightenment. For example, in Balance des peintres by the French author, artist and diplomat Roger de Piles (1635–1709), published in 1708, Rembrandt was 24 rijks 02 Etienne v1.1.indd 24 FIG. 6 Rembrandt van Rijn, A Scholar in his Study (Faustus), published by Basan, 1639/1807, etching, 208 × 162 mm, The British Museum, London, inv. no. 1033433001. (Photo © The Trustees of the British Museum.) compared with Raphael (1483–1520) for the quality of his work (Fig. 7).18 De Piles compared Raphael and Rembrandt on a range of levels: Raphael was awarded ‘18/20’ for his ability to draw, while Rembrandt only received ‘6/20’, the lowest grade in this category. However, Rembrandt was awarded ‘17/20’ for his colouring, while Raphael only earned a ‘12/20’. In 1764, in his Idée de la gravure, the engraver and author Antoine de Marcenay de Ghuy (1721–1811) stated: ‘What artist would have equalled the famous Rembrandt, if he had combined the elegance of design with the excellent qualities that nature had lavished on him! Where can we find greater boldness in the brush, more pride in the colour? The warmth of his painting made its way even into his manner of engraving.’ 19 This view of Rembrandt might explain some of the modifications Watelet made to the master’s engravings in order to instinctively ‘correct’ the drawing, while preserving or even reinforcing other properties of the images, such as the chiaroscuro. The idea of the ‘brushstroke’, as described by Ghuy, became key to the appreciation of Rembrandt at the end of the 18th century. Restoration takes place in a context that includes the restorer, collector, patron and the viewer, together with a set of expectations and possibilities that will impact the restored piece differently. Proto-art historical discourses are impacting restoration processes, whether in the selection of pieces or in the RembRandt conSeRvatIon hIStoRIeS 24/02/2021 11:34 interventions themselves. Therefore, the ways Rembrandt’s artworks were perceived transformed the way they were restored. Yet restoration also allowed the art-historical discourse of the period to be shaped and materialised. Moreover, the interest, novel at the time, in the materiality and three-dimensionality of paintings transformed restoration. Therefore, in the last part of this paper I will argue that the growing interest in the materiality of artworks – well represented in the fascination for Rembrandt’s brushstroke – would also transform restoration practice. RESTORATION AS A MATERIAL ART HISTORY As already discussed, engravings were the most common way to envision Rembrandt’s art during the Enlightenment. 20 However, among the paintings by Rembrandt restored in 18th-century Paris was The Archangel Raphael Leaving Tobias’ Family (Paris, Musée du Louvre), a small oil on panel restored in 1750 by François-Louis Colins (1699–1760) and Marie-Jacob Godefroid (c.1701–1775). 21 During the same year, they restored more than 100 paintings belonging to the French king, mostly by relining them on canvas and retouching them. Lining was a common practice in the 18th century but half a century later, the tendency to line, flatten the canvas and smooth its surface was regarded as threatening the authenticity of the painting. In a pamphlet published in the early 19th century on the artworks restored and exhibited at the new museum that had opened in the Louvre Palace, the Musée central des Arts (now the Musée du Louvre) in Paris, an anonymous author wrote: All the Paintings that we have relined have lost their certificates of originality, the honesty of their brushstroke, their very brushstroke, inasmuch as those who reline paintings have no other means than to press their surface area with hot irons. That defective operation flattens the brushstroke, the impasto, smooths the Paintings, annihilates at once their beauty and their value. 22 In 1797 two restorers working in the museum – François-Toussaint Hacquin (1758–1832) and his student Joseph Fouque (1755–1819) – were accused of having flattened the paint on two pictures by Correggio by relining. 23 The transfer of paintings was a widespread practice during the Revolutionary period in France but it was criticised for eliminating the brushstroke and thus the essence of the master’s work: Paintings that have been removed from their old canvases and placed on new ones are in much worse condition than they were before, in that the Paint, no longer controlled by the grain of the Master’s canvas, is more easily flattened than those of paintings that have only been FIG. 7 Roger de Piles, Balance des peintres in Cours de peinture par principe, Paris, Charles Antoine Jombert, 1708. relined; so the Master’s brushstroke and execution are absolutely bastardised. 24 The disappearance of the brushstroke eroded the authenticity of the painting. The brushstroke in general, and that of Rembrandt in particular, became the aesthetic criterion for amateurs interested in the materiality of the work in the latter half of the 18th century, as well as a guarantee of its authenticity. Another example affords a glimpse of the newly admitted importance of the brushstroke as key to identifying and authenticating a work. A selection of paintings was shown at the museum in the spring of 1796, some of which were placed under glass to prevent any damage. The glass as well as possibly earlier restoration made it difficult for one visitor to identify some of the properties of a Flemish school painting, which he thought he admired. He went on to say: ‘I note that I “thought” I recognised them, since the brushstroke, colour work, and, I dare say, the look of these famous masters had totally disappeared.’25 The disappearance of the brushstrokes was nearly tantamount to the disappearance of the painter. The importance accorded to the master’s brushstroke and, NoémIe ÉtIenne rijks 02 Etienne v1.1.indd 25 25 24/02/2021 11:34 more generally, to the materiality of the works, explains why modifying these properties, by a poor relining for example, appeared to be a disfigurement of the painting thereby putting its authenticity in doubt. Not only were connoisseurship and art history from the very first connected to the critique, evaluation, collection, copying and selling of artworks – they were also closely connected to restoration practices. Two other examples of the interconnection between restoration and art-historical discourse strengthen this point. At the end of the 18th century, Raphael was also at the centre of another discussion in Paris. 26 Before the French Revolution, the Comte d’Angiviller (1730– 1809) was involved in the preparations for the opening of the abovementioned Musée central des Arts, which finally opened in 1793, i.e. after the French Revolution. The display was expected to show the different artistic schools as they were presented at the time in the connoisseurial discourse. Two schools were of particular interest to D’Angiviller: the French and Italian. The latter school centred on the artist considered to be the best Italian painter at the time, Raphael, while Eustache Le Sueur (1616–1655), also described as the ‘French Raphael’, was considered the most important artist from the French school. Many of the artworks required restoration prior to the exhibition: two-thirds of the paintings were by Raphael and Le Sueur with the balance from different artists. Although those paintings were probably in need of treatment, they were also restored in readiness for exhibition in the new museum. This display and the prior restoration interventions participated to build up materially the art-historical narrative of the time and to highlight the two principal painters of the two main schools: Raphael and Le Sueur. The interconnection of such practices would continue into the 19th century and beyond. For example, in his diary, Sulpiz Boisserée (1783–1854), one of the great German art collectors of the early 19th century, recounts the pleasure he drew from cleaning the paintings in his personal collection: ‘It gave me great joy when, during cleaning, a head or part of a beautiful blue dress was brought back to light by the restorer’s hand … Often, we would seize the wet sponge ourselves in anticipation of this pleasure, because we could not bring ourselves to wait for the restorer to steadily finish his work.’27 Sulpiz seized the sponge and outstripped the restorer, who was deemed too slow. It appears that collectors cleaned their own paintings even when a certified restorer was on hand. Sulpiz marvels at the painting’s colour which he, quite literally, ‘uncovers’. The restoration of works contributed to the emergence of an applied history of art that reinforced, anticipated and even circumvented concurrent writing on the discipline in the 19th century. The example above illustrates this phenomenon. The colours used by old 26 rijks 02 Etienne v1.1.indd 26 master painters held an element of surprise but it is precisely these colours that restorers and collectors alike not only sought out and found, but also created. In fact, the Boisserée brothers’ collection included many German ‘primitive’ paintings. By cleaning their paintings, collectors effectively had a hand in creating the works they owned. Contemporary writing on art puts these actions into perspective. By praising the ‘beautiful blue dress’ in the painting he is cleaning, Sulpiz has identified the much-lauded chromatics within a history of German painting that he himself is helping to shape. 28 In this example, the collector reveals himself to be both a restorer and an art historian. Furthermore, historians and connoisseurs from that time frequently collaborated with restorers. 29 Finally, restorers of the 19th century were themselves often experts and authors. The French restorer Simon Horsin-Déon (1812– 1882), for example, went so far as to directly address the German art historian and first curator of the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, Gustav Friedrich Waagen (1794–1868) in De la conservation et de la restauration des tableaux, criticising one of his theories.30 In 1806, the Belgian painter and restorer Nicolas Alexandre (1770–1809) published Abrégé de la vie des peintres, des écoles allemande, flamande, hollandaise…31 In Italy, in 1813, the Roman restorer Pietro Palmaroli (1767–1828) published a treatise32 and the Piedmontese restorer, Giovanni Bedotti published Guida ossia dizionario portatile per gli amatori de’quadri della scuola fiamminga ed olandese in 1845. Finally, in 1888 Léon Horsin-Déon published a book on art history entitled Essai sur les portraitistes français de la Renaissance: contenant un inventaire raisonné de tous les portraits du XVIe siècle des musées de Versailles et du Louvre.33 Thus, not only did experts become restorers, but restorers became experts and art historians as well, developing writing practices and displaying their historical expertise through publication. Restorers gained a specific expertise while manipulating artworks. Similarly, connoisseurs, art historians and collectors felt authorised to restore paintings and engravings. Their expertise and knowledge were circulating between practices and discourses, actions and observations. They produced knowledge while interacting with the artworks themselves: such information, often fixed in publications and the writing of art historical discourse, later also informed restoration practices. CONCLUSION To conclude, I would like to return to Watelet and his restoration of Rembrandt’s copperplates. As this paper has shown, restoration practices have a longstanding connection to the earliest writing on art history and vice versa. Indeed, the two activities inform each other. RembRandt conSeRvatIon hIStoRIeS 24/02/2021 11:34 constructs objects and renders them in a certain way. Conservation practices and the contemporary writing of art history are interconnected. The history of art predetermines the activity of restoration in the same way that the restoration of paintings informs writing on the discipline. By addressing the artwork as a continuum, i.e. as a material object undergoing perpetual transformation, the history of restoration shows that while paintings do not have a fixed identity, their function and status depend on a long series of manipulations and contexts. Much has changed since the 18th century: techniques differ as does the training of those now called conservators who have studied the discipline in depth. Collectors are less likely to restore the artworks in their possession but practices can vary between different contexts, such as the world of museums and the private market. Regardless, the desire to ‘get back’ to an original artwork was the primary motivation behind many of the 18th century’s restoration practices and indeed might continue to be so today. Furthermore, the idea of the ‘original’ is a deeply historical construct that has to be addressed carefully. FIG. 8 Claude-Henry Watelet (after a drawing by Jean-Baptiste Greuze), Portrait of Claude-Henry Watelet as Jan Six, 1764 (?), etching, 244 × 188 mm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. no. RP-P-1965–342. (Photo © Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.) At the end of the 18th century, the restoration of Rembrandt’s body of work is paradigmatic of this interconnection between restoration and art history. Connoisseurial discourse transformed the ways Rembrandt’s paintings were restored as much as restoration practices modified how his art was viewed and appreciated. Watelet’s hybrid identity, between practice and theory, is particularly interesting with regard to his restoration activity. In an engraving, Watelet depicted himself as Jan Six (1618–1700) (Fig. 8), the merchant, mayor of Amsterdam and friend of Rembrandt. In doing so, the Parisian amateur was reinterpreting an engraving by the Dutch master while placing himself in the first circle of Rembrandt’s admirers. This (metaphorical) proximity to Rembrandt was an argument that Watelet used to secure his own position. As he himself explained, Watelet acquired his expertise through a physical contact with the master’s artworks in his possession. Indeed, it was by studying and reproducing the engravings that he gained his knowledge on the artist. Furthermore, restoration played a key role in this process. While Watelet achieved his expertise through restoration, he also reinvested it in his restoration practice. Finally, I would like to suggest that, just like collection, restoration falls under the banner of what could be called the practices of art history. That is, it defines a series of gestures that, from a material point of view, NoémIe ÉtIenne rijks 02 Etienne v1.1.indd 27 27 24/02/2021 11:34 BIOGRAPHY Noémie Étienne is Professor of Art History at the University of Bern and a specialist in the fields of heritage and museum studies. She was previously the Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute of Fine Arts-New York University and a postdoctoral fellow at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles. Her first book, The Restoration of Paintings in Paris (1750–1815) was published in 2012 (Presses Universitaires de Rennes), and subsequently translated into English and published in 2017 (Getty Publications). Her most recent book on anthropological dioramas is entitled Les autres et les ancêtres. Les dioramas de Franz Boas et Arthur Parker à New York, 1900 (Les presses du réel). She is currently leading a research project on the exotic in Europe between 1600 and 1800. She is also starting a new research project entitled ‘Global Conservation’. ENDNOTES 1 The artwork represented is Rembrandt, A Woman in Bed, c.1645–46, oil on canvas, 81.1 × 67.8 cm, Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, inv. no. NG827. 2 On Tronchin see, for instance, V. Chenal, François Tronchin et la Russie, Geneva, Georg, 2020. 3 See, for example, M. Roethlisberger and R. Loche, Liotard: catalogue, sources et correspondance, Doornspijk, Davaco Publishers, 2008; M. Koos, Haut, Farbe und Medialität. Oberfläche im Werk von JeanÉtienne Liotard (1702–1789), Paderborn, Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 2014. 4 ‘Rembrandt est peint grossièrement. … Je conviens que vu de loin, votre tableau est moins laid; mais encore une fois, ce n’est rien gagné que d’être moins laid à mesure qu’on est moins vu’: J.E. Liotard, Traité des principes et des règles de la peinture, Geneva, Editions Notari, 2007 (1st edn 1781), p. 39. 5 ‘Les touches sont donc la manière la plus laide et la plus éloignée de la nature; elles doivent, je ne dirais pas leur crédit (car les plus grands artistes ne les adoptèrent jamais), mais l’espèce de tolérance qu’on leur a accordée, à l’idée qu’elles donnent à la peinture de la force, de la vigueur, du relief et de la vie’, ibid., p. 37. 6 For a similar argument on the interconnection between practice and theory at the time, see N. Étienne, ‘La pensée dans la pratique. Le cas de la veuve Godefroid, restauratrice de tableaux au XVIIIe siècle’, in M. Fend, M. Hyde and A. Lafont (eds), Historiennes et critiques d’art à l’époque de Julie Récamier, Dijon, Les presses du réel, 2012, pp. 77–97. 7 E. Hinterding, ‘The history of Rembrandt’s copperplates, with a catalogue of those that survive’, Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art 22(4), 1993–94, pp. 253–315. See also J. de Cayeux, ‘Watelet et Rembrandt’, Bulletin de la Société de l’Histoire de l’Art Français, 1965, pp. 131–49, upon which Hinterding partly bases his research. The content of this article on Rembrandt’s etching is largely indebted to these two studies. 28 rijks 02 Etienne v1.1.indd 28 RembRandt conSeRvatIon hIStoRIeS 24/02/2021 11:34 8 ‘Je me suis assuré, par des observations très répétée et faites avec la loupe’; C. Watelet, ‘Avertissement’, in Rymbranesques, ou essais de gravure, par Ch. Watelet, de l’Académie Françoise et honoraire amateur de l’Académie royale de Peinture et Sculpture, Paris, Prault, 1785. The volume is preserved in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris: BNF, CE, Ef-4-Fol, pièce 28. 17 ‘J’ajouterai enfin, que si cette manière de graver paraît devoir tirer peu d’épreuves, ce qui cependant n’est pas vrai, elle a l’avantage d’être rétablie en peu de temps, et qu’entre les mains de celui qui a l’habitude de s’en servir, je crois au contraire qu’une planche pourroit se rajeunir, de manière à tirer des milliers d’épreuves’: Watelet 1785 (cited in note 8). 9 C. Guichard, Les amateurs d’art à Paris au XVIIIe siècle, Paris, Seyssel, Champ vallon, 2008. 18 R. de Piles, Cours de peinture par principe, Paris, Charles Antoine Jombert, 1708. 10 ‘N’ayant point ces heureux dons, j’ai gravé Presque toutes les planches où j’ai eu dessein d’imiter les procédés du grand Peintre … et je me suis permis seulement de décider mes effets à mon gré’: Watelet 1785 (cited in note 8). 11 K. Smentek, Mariette and the Science of Connoisseurship in Eighteenth Century Europe, Farnham, Ashgate, 2014. 12 ‘Au reste, ce qui m’a confirmé dans l’opinion que j’ai d’avoir rencontré ce que je cherchois, c’est qu’ayant fait acheté en Hollande des planches originales de Rymbrand, la plupart altérées, effacées, ou gatées par des retouches lourdes et maladroites, j’ai hasardé d’en rapprocher plusieurs de leur premier état, en consultant les bonnes épreuves qui se sont conservées et que je suis parvenu à mon but passablement pour satisfaire les yeux instruits. J’en publierai quelques unes, et l’on y verra entr’autres celle qui représente un peintre dessinant d’après le modèle, planche qui est toujours restée à moitié faite et que j’ai terminée’: Watelet 1785 (cited in note 8). 13 See also G. Biörklund, Rembrandt’s Etching: True and False, Stockholm/London/New York, 1955. 14 Pierre-François Basan, Recueil de quatrevingt-cinq Estampes originales, Têtes, Paysages, et différents sujets dessinées et gravées par Rembrandt, Paris, chez Basan, Hôtel Serpentes, no. 14, 1789–97. See Hinterding 1993–94 (cited in note 7), p. 275. 15 The title is similar to the title of his father’s Recueil: Basan 1789–97 (cited in note 14). See Hinterding 1993–94 (cited in note 7), p. 276. 16 See also Hinterding (cited in note 7), p. 278, who makes similar observations. 19 ‘Quel artiste eût égalé le célèbre Rembrandt, s’il eût réuni l’élégance du dessein aux excellentes qualités que la nature lui avoit prodiguées! Où trouver plus de hardiesse dans le pinceau, plus de fierté dans le coloris? La chaleur de sa peinture a passé jusque dans la manière de graver’: A. de Marcenay de Ghuy, Idée de la gravure, Paris, Georges Rapilly, 1764, p. 13. 20 Regarding the information in this and the following paragraph, see N. Étienne, The Restoration of Paintings in Paris (1750–1815): Practice, Discourse, Materiality, Los Angeles, Getty Research Institute, 2017. 21 Rembrandt, Archangel Raphael Leaving Tobias’ Family, oil on panel, 64.5 × 50.5 cm, 1637, Musée du Louvre, Paris, inv. no. 1736. 22 Observations on the Status of All Restored Paintings, Paris, Archives Nationales, 1920.2-67. 23 Paris, Archives des Musées Nationaux, P16. 24 Observations on the Status of All Restored Paintings, Paris, Archives Nationales, 1920.2-67. 25 ‘Observations on the first exhibition of paintings in 1796’, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Collection Deloynes, item 483. 26 See Étienne 2017 (cited in note 20), pp. 133–38. 29 J. Anderson, Giuseppe Molteni in Correspondence with Giovanni Morelli: The Restoration of Renaissance Painting in Mid Nineteenth-Century Milan, Florence, Edifir, 2013. 30 S. Horsin-Déon, De la conservation et de la restauration des tableaux: historique de la partie mécanique de la peinture depuis sa renaissance jusqu’à nos jours, Paris, Bossange, 1851, p. 57. See also G. Perusini, Simon Horsin-Déon e il restauro in Francia alla metà del XIX secolo, Florence, Edifir, 2013. 31 N. Alexandre, Abrégé de la vie des peintres, des écoles allemande, flamande, hollandaise, française, romaine, florentine, vénitienne, lombarde, génoise, napolitaine, espagnole et les anciens, mis en ordre alphabétique, avec une explication de leur manière et genre de peindre, new edn, Brussels, by the author, 1808. 32 P. Palmaroli, ‘Osservazioni sopra la pratica del dipingere ad olio tenuta dalle scuole fiorentina, veneziana e fiamminga ne’ loro migliori tempi con note’, in L. Marcucci, Saggio analitico-chimico sopra i colori, Rome, Lino Contendini, 1813, pp. 199–240. 33 L. Horsin-Déon, Essai sur les portraitistes français de la Renaissance: contenant un inventaire raisonné de tous les portraits du 16e siècle venant des musées de Versailles et du Louvre, Paris, P. Larousse et cie, 1888. 27 Sulpiz Boisserée quoted in G. Perusini, ‘Il Manuale di Christian Köster e il restauro in Italia e in Germania dal 1780 al 1830’, in C. Koester, Sul restauro degli antichi dipinti ad olio, Udine, Editrice Universitaria Udinese, 2001, p. 27. NoémIe ÉtIenne rijks 02 Etienne v1.1.indd 29 28 U. Heckmann, Die Sammlung Boisseree: Konzeption und Rezeptionsgeschichte einer romantischen Kunstsammlung zwischen 1804 und 1827, Munich, Wilhelm Fink, 2003; I. Dubois, ‘La réception française des théories de Sulpiz Boisserée sur les primitifs allemands’, in U. Fleckner and T.W. Gaehtgens (eds), De Grünewald à Menzel: l’image de l’art allemand en France au XIXe siècle, Paris, éditions de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, 2003, pp. 17–37; A. Gethmann-Siefert and O. Pöggeler, Kunst als Kulturgut: die Bildersammlung der Bruder Boisserée: ein Schritt in der Begründung des Museums, Bonn, Bouvier, 1995. 29 24/02/2021 11:34