The Gold Weigher

Alexandrine von Wistinghausen (?) after “Rembrandt”

Before 1878. Oil on canvas

When the young Baltic-German artist Amalie Henriette Alexandrine von Wistinghausen copied the painting “The Gold Weigher” at the Old Masters Picture Gallery (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister) in Dresden in the 1870s, the model was considered to be an original by Rembrandt: the signature Rembrandt 1643 in the top left corner seemed to confirm this belief. “The Gold Weigher” was even regarded as one of Rembrandt’s masterpieces from the 1640s, in which his mysteriously mellow atmosphere, achieved through chiaroscuro, was said to have been particularly well expressed. The painting was copied repeatedly in the 19th century; the Picture Gallery even issued a souvenir postcard. When “The Gold Weigher” was excluded from the list of Rembrandt’s works at the end of the 19th century, and attributed to an unknown artist from his circle, it was sent to the gallery’s depository. Thus the glory of the painting, along with its high artistic merits, faded. Alexandrine von Wistinghausen’s well-executed copy, born out of admiration, is therefore valuable as a document of the taste in art at the time, as well as a document of art history.