These are works from Rembrandt’s late period – and the first room – a series of self-portraits as Rembrandt, ages is quite stunning.

I was particularly tried to look closely at how he had painted the portraits – particularly the use of light, and the range of different kinds of marks he made as well as enjoying them.  On occasions he used quite bold strokes and also put paint on thickly to create particular effects.

In the painting The Sampling Officials of the Amsterdam Drapers’ Guild, known as ‘The Syndics’ (1662) I felt pleased with myself for noticing before being told by the audio guide that the table cloth is painted in very free broad strokes and the line of light across the top of the table by a line of quite thick yellow paint.

His drawings and etchings were fascinating but it was difficult to get near them because of the crowds. Afterwards I watched a couple of videos on Youtube and got a bit better idea about Rembrandt’s life and work. Youtube videos are very mixed of course, but that’s okay.

I also watched a Youtube video – one of a series by a painter called Tom Keating – in which he does a painting using the same techniques as a particular artist – in Rembrandt’s case an unbelievable number of preparatory layers, underpaintings, glazes etc. I have no way of verifying the accuracy of the Tom Keating’s video – but it did seem to be an astonishingly complex and almost scientific process. Click here to view

I was excited to see David Attenborough in one room.

There’s a brief introduction to the exhibition including some images and a short video fronted by Jeremy Paxman on the Art Fund website. Click here