Rembrandt behind the scenes. Christ disputing with the doctors: An intriguing panel from seventeenth-century Barcelona

Between July 2012 and December 2013, the CRBMC (Centre de Restauració de Béns Mobles de Catalunya) restored two severely damaged works, painted probably around the middle of the seventeenth century by an anonymous and second-rate artist. The paintings were Christ Disputing with the Doctors and The Flight into Egypt. When the restoration was completed, it brought to light several interesting aspects: New painting had been applied over ancient panels from a sixteenth-century altarpiece, and the details in the new works, especially the first, did not follow the usual formula of Catalan baroque masters. The article analyses the clues that could point to the author’s being a Dutch or Flemish Rembrandtesque artist temporarily settled in Barcelona.