It promises to be the hottest ticket in town. Works by one of art’s greatest storytellers, Rembrandt van Rijn, is coming to the Naples Art Institute next year. Executive Director Frank Verpoorten made the announcement.
“I guess I can lift a veil on late 2026, winter 26, 27, when we are going to host a Rembrandt exhibition.”
The "Master of Chiaroscuro" – the innovative use of light and shadow – never traveled abroad, but a collection of his work is circling the globe with a stop in Naples.
“So this is very special,” said Verpoorten. “It's a traveling exhibition that's only going to three museums in the U.S., and we're among that group, and we're really excited and can't wait to get the community excited about that, too, and let them know about what's in store.”
Details are coming.
MORE INFORMATION:
Naples Art Institute Executive Director Frank Verpoorten did not offer any details about the traveling exhibition that will come to the Naples Art Institute in 2026.
Traveling exhibitions in the past have included a number of etchings.
Rembrandt pioneered that form of art.
With engravings, an artist scratches a composition on a copper plate. By contrast, to create an etching, the artist covers the copper plate with wax and carves the composition into the wax with a needle. As the wax is removed, the copper is exposed. When the drawing is complete, the artist dips the copper plate into an acid wash that dissolves the exposed copper, thereby transferring the drawing to the copper plate. The plate is then used to print the composition in the same process as used in engravings.
There are two differences between engravings and etchings. Etchings enable an artist to create freer and more fluid strokes than is possible with engraving directly into the copper. As a result, etchings are far less time-intensive and therefore a quicker means of creating a finished product.
Rembrandt became one of the most influential printmakers in art history. His subjects ranged from representations of biblical passages such as “The Hundred Guilder” (1649) and “Christ Preaching” (1652) to street life in Amsterdam. He was capable of achieving extraordinarily intricate detail on a small scale in etchings. These prints were widely disseminated and launched Rembrandt into international fame that was no longer confined to the Dutch Republic.
While he created a number of famous landscapes and one seascape during his career, Rembrandt is best known as a portrait painter. Whether his subject was a wealthy commission or himself, Rembrandt’s portraits were distinguished by their honesty, depth and unpretentious lack of theatricality. He possessed an uncanny ability to reveal his subjects’ warmth, loneliness, vulnerabilities and need for understanding and empathy.
“Life etches itself onto our faces as we grow older,” Rembrandt once said, “showing our violence, excesses or kindness.”
The seascape, “The Storm on the Sea of Galilee,” is 13 works that were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston on March 18, 1990, by two thieves dressed as police officers. None of the works, valued at more than $500 million, has ever been recovered. Also taken was “The Concert,” one of only 34 known paintings by Johannes Vermeer. The museum still displays the paintings' empty frames in their original locations.
The “Night Watch” is Rembrandt’s best-known work. The painting’s official title is “The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq.” However, it was dubbed “The Night Watch” as a result of the dimmed and dark atmosphere in the scene. Conservators have since discovered that the darkness is a result of the aging varnish and some damage. The original painting was, in fact, diffused with bright sunlight.
After its completion, “The Night Watch” was actually trimmed on all four sides so that it fit into the Amsterdam town hall. The original piece had two full figures on the left side, which are now missing, as well as a balustrade and steps which had given the work more depth.
In “The Night Watch” and his other paintings, Rembrandt perfected the use of light and shadow to achieve unprecedented levels of psychological character in his subjects, landscapes and interior scenes.
Several of Rembrandt’s paintings have patches that appear to be unfinished. In this regard, Rembrandt is reputed to have said, “A painting is finished when the artist says it’s finished” and “without atmosphere, a painting is nothing.”
There appear to be about 300 of his paintings on canvas that exist today, although as many as 2,000 works were once attributed to him. Of that number, scholars have identified between 40 and 90 authentic self-portraits.
“Practice what you know, and it will help to make clear what now you do not know,” Rembrandt wrote.
Rembrandt’s early work is signed with his Latin monogram: RHL (Rembrandus Hermanni Leydensis.) He then switched to RHL-van-Rijn and eventually settled on simply Rembrandt as his signature for the majority of his career.
Rembrandt and van Gogh both died penniless. At Rembrandt’s death, his possessions included just his clothing, brushes and some paint supplies.
By the time of his death in 1669 at the age of 63, he had become one of the leading painters of the Dutch Golden Age.
Rembrandt’s body of work has influenced generations of artists, including van Gogh, who once said, “Rembrandt goes so deep into the mysterious that he says things for which there are no words in any language. It is with justice that they call Rembrandt ‘magician’ that’s no easy occupation.”
Verpoorten serves as executive director as well as chief curator of the Naples Art Institute. He is a renowned leader, professional, and academic in the art world with more than 25 years of curatorial and artistic leadership in museums in the United States and Europe.
Verpoorten previously served as director and chief curator for Artis—Naples, The Baker Museum, where he grew and advanced the appreciation of the permanent collection during his seven-year tenure, raising the museum’s profile and building a reputation for distinctive, world-class exhibitions. Verpoorten’s impressive fundraising efforts during his tenure resulted in significant donations, gifts of art, endowment support, and exhibition sponsorship/underwriting.
Prior to his tenure at Artis—Naples, Verpoorten’s career included 10 years in New York City as culture attaché at Flanders House (2009 – 2012), director of visual arts and exhibitions curator at Snug Harbor Cultural Center and the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art (2005 – 2009) and curator of the Dahesh Museum of Art (2002 – 2005).
Verpoorten attended the Ph.D. Program in Art History at the City University of New York and holds dual master’s degrees in Cultural Studies and Art History from Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Belgium.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.