Rembrandt

In this Power of Art episode, author and historian Simon Schama reveals with wit and insight why the great Dutch Golden Age painter Rembrandt cut up his own masterpiece, ''The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis.'' Traveling to Amsterdam, Schama details Rembrandt van Rijn's early success as a portrait painter. His historical and religious paintings also gave him wide acclaim. He began to push boundaries, which increasingly drew criticism from his peers. In 1662, Claudius Civilis was the largest oil painting Rembrandt had ever created. But today, thanks to the artist’s own knife, it hangs in Stockholm’s National Museum a fifth of its original size. Sir Simon asks: Is this the most heartbreaking fragment in the entire history of painting?