Press release | 4 September 2025
Who was the mysterious 17th-century artist Master I.S.?
New findings in exhibition about Rembrandt's enigmatic contemporary
From 11 October 2025 to 8 March 2026, Museum De Lakenhal will present Masterful Mystery – On Rembrandt’s Enigmatic Contemporary. This exhibition is built on extensive research into the identity of the 17th-century painter known only by the initials I.S. The research reveals that this artist may have had ties to Leiden and to Northern and Eastern Europe. Masterful Mystery tells the story of this enigmatic artist, whose oeuvre continues to raise intriguing questions.
Loans from museums and private collections
Masterful Mystery – On Rembrandt’s Enigmatic Contemporary brings together for the first time 16 paintings by Master I.S., which is a significant portion of this rare body of work. A number of European museums, including the Nationalmuseum of Stockholm and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, are lending works to the exhibition, as is the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. A significant number of paintings are on loan from private collections outside the Netherlands. These paintings have never been on public display before before and will disappear behind closed doors again at the end of the exhibition. Also on display are works by Gerrit Dou, Jan Lievens, and an exceptional early painting by Rembrandt from the Tiroler Landesmuseum in Innsbruck.
Presumably a Leiden painter
The painter, who signed their paintings with the letters I.S., is believed to have spent time in Leiden. This oeuvre distinctly echoes work by other artists who were working in Leiden at the beginning of the 17th century. Central to the work of Master I.S., whose gender is uncertain, are penetrating depictions of human faces. At a time when many artists idealised their models, Master I.S. opted for an honest and direct approach. This work illustrates a new way of looking that centres on meticulous observation. The Leiden masters are regarded as having pioneered this approach, which captured the character and emotion of the human face.
Northern and Eastern European clues
Yet, not all the clues to I.S.'s identity in these paintings point to Leiden. Many of the paintings' subjects are wearing Northern and Eastern European coats, collars, fur hats and other garments. Was Master I.S. a Leiden artist who traveled to Scandinavia or the Baltic Sea region? Or a northern artist who settled in Leiden for the city's thriving artistic climate?
'In the 17th century, Leiden was an international art centre, connected to trade routes and intellectual networks,' explains Janneke van Asperen, Curator of Old Masters at Museum De Lakenhal. 'The story of Master I.S. shows how artists and art moved across borders and how the Leiden school of painting was part of a broader international exchange.'
Search for identity
Museum De Lakenhal has collaborated with Serlachius Museums in Finland on this exhibition. This museum has one work by Master I.S. in its collection and a network across the region where the painter must have been active, when not in Leiden. The research was conducted by curators Janneke van Asperen (Museum De Lakenhal) and Tomi Moisio (Serlachius Museums) in collaboration with the experts Volker Manuth and Marieke de Winkel (Radboud University) and David de Witt (Rembrandt House Museum). This research and an international appeal through the CODART curator network led to several paintings being traced and discovered. These are now on display in the exhibition.
Practical information
This exhibition was on show at Serlachius Museums in Mänttä, Finland, from 12 April to 17 August 2025. It will travel in an expanded form to Leiden, where it will be exhibited at Museum De Lakenhal from 11 October 2025 to 8 March 2026. The design of the exhibition is by Theun Mosk from Ruimtetijd.
Support
The exhibition Masterful Mystery – On Rembrandt’s Enigmatic Contemporary has been made possible thanks to support from the City of Leiden, Mondriaan Fund, Turing Foundation, Blockbusterfonds, het Cultuurfonds, Lucas van Leyden Patronage, Stichting Zabawas, DutchCulture and the Government of the Netherlands: The Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands granted an indemnity guarantee on behalf of the Minister of Education, Culture, and Science.
NOTE TO THE PRESS, NOT FOR PUBLICATION
For more information, please contact Vera van Buuren, PR & Communications Officer, at v.van.buuren@lakenhal.nl or telephone +31 6 39 25 49 25.
Press images are available to download via the press kit.