Horst Gerson

Gerson was born in Berlin on 2 March 1907,[1] and after studying art history in Vienna, he became a pupil and assistant of Cornelis Hofstede de Groot and worked for Hofstede de Groot's RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History) during the years 1934–1966, becoming a Dutch citizen in 1940 and becoming director of the RKD on 1 January 1954.

[2] He is known for his publications, starting with his 'Ausbreitung und Nachwirkung der holländischen Malerei des 17.

[2] He assisted Abraham Bredius with his Rembrandt catalogue raisonné, and later wrote his own version in 1968 which reduced the number of attributed Rembrandt works from 639 to 420, and the next year published a revision of Bredius's catalog that reduced the number even further.

[3] The Rembrandt Research Project (RRP) under the direction of Ernst van de Wetering has systematically gone through the Gerson papers and is in the process of re-attributing paintings to Rembrandt, most notably the self-portrait wearing a white feathered bonnet in Buckland Abbey.

Gerson was elected a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1969.