Getty Museum in LA buys Rembrandt, Canaletto works

The Getty Museum of Los Angeles announced it has acquired a self-portrait by Rembrandt and a painting by the Venetian artist Canaletto. "Rembrandt Laughing," a small oil on copper work probably done around 1628, came onto the art market in 2007 after spending centuries as part of private collections. It was at first attributed to contemporaries of Rembrandt, but later authenticated by the Rembrandt Research Project. The painter, then around 22, is dressed as a soldier and smiling broadly. The museum already had four works by Rembrandt. It has now also acquired a piece by landscape painter Canaletto, or Giovanni Antonio Canal, done around 1738. "The Grand Canal in Venice from Palazzo Flangini to Campo San Marcuola" will be the second Canaletto displayed at the Getty Museum. The other is a scene of Rome. "The Getty Museum possesses the most significant collection of early Rembrandts in the United States, and if you had asked what addition would best cap it off, the answer would have been a self-portrait, which many regard as his greatest and most sustained achievement," museum director Timothy Potts said late on Thursday. "The Canaletto likewise is a tremendous addition to our growing collection of Italian view paintings," Potts said. Founded by oil baron John Paul Getty, the Getty Museum is part of the world's richest art foundation, with assets worth an estimated $7.9 billion in 2011.