You’re looking at Rembrandt’s unfinished masterpiece ‘Let The Little Children Come Unto Me,’ which is now at
#SothebysLondon. Watch as art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon gives his first impressions of this remarkable painting.
Rembrandt started this painting around 1627 during his pivotal years in Leiden, his place of birth. He filled this crowded, intimate composition with depictions of his family members and even included himself in the upper right corner.
Here, Graham-Dixon proposes that the other figures in the frame could represent the refugees that fled to the Netherlands during the Thirty Years War, turning this history painting into a radical message of love and welcoming.
‘Let The Little Children Come Unto Me’ stars in Old Masters, coming to auction on 1 July. Register to bid at the link in bio.