lifestyle WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 2015

Features CSI Rembrandt: Museum sleuths show painting is a Rembrandt fter a CSI-style investigation and restoration ers now you can actually see the original paint again helped us to determine that the painting is in fact spanning eight years, the Mauritshuis museum and then there’s no doubt.” made up of 15 different pieces of canvas; three main Ain The Hague has declared that one of its star Now newly re-attributed to Rembrandt, the parts - the Saul, the David, and an insert of a copy of paintings really is by Dutch master Rembrandt van painstakingly restored canvas is the centerpiece of an an old painting in the upper right corner plus strips all Rijn. The announcement should end years of is-it-or- exhibition opening tomorrow and running through around the edges. So it’s a real patchwork,” she said. It isn’t-it debate about whether “Saul and David” was a Sept 13 that goes into forensic detail on how the remains unclear why the painting was carved up in real Rembrandt. Researchers used advanced X-ray museum unraveled the mystery of who painted “Saul the past. techniques to peer through several coats of paint that and David.” Part of the team that confirmed the attri- One result is that the painting now hanging in had been applied during previous restorations and bution was renowned Rembrandt expert Ernst van de pride of place in the Mauritshuis exhibition - establish that the original pigments were the same as Wetering. “Rembrandt? The case of Saul and David” - is smaller those Rembrandt used in the 17th century. Paint sam- Like many crime-scene investigations, the than Rembrandt’s original. But, in keeping with the pling showed that the primer used was typical of Mauritshuis probe had to deal with a “victim” that had high-tech nature of the investigation, the museum Rembrandt’s studio in the 1650s and 1660s. suffered much abuse. Cut up, painted over and faded also commissioned a 3D printed version of the paint- For decades, there was no question. A former over time, “Saul and David” even had part of another ing in its original size that visitors can touch to get a director of the museum in The Hague, Abraham painting stuck into its top right-hand corner. “Before true feel for the Dutch master’s brush strokes. Director Bredius, bought the painting more than a century the painting was treated, before it was cleaned, it Gordenker said the museum did not set out to prove ago, but in the late 1960s Rembrandt expert Horst became clear that the painting had been over painted that the painting was indeed a Rembrandt. “In fact, Gerson cast doubt on who actually painted the a number of times, that the painting had discolored, we only came to the conclusion about a month ago,” Biblical scene of King Saul using a curtain to dab a that its original dimensions had been changed in the Gordenker said. “We would have been happy to do tear from his eye while David, kneeling below the past,” said Joris Dik of Delft Technical University, this show and come to the conclusion it wasn’t (a king, plucks the strings of a harp. whose high-tech scans helped establish the painting’s Rembrandt).”— AP authenticity and guide restorers. “It’s been really treat- Unraveled the mystery ed brutally, this painting, in multiple past restoration Restorer Carol Pottasch said it was no surprise that campaigns.” Gerson questioned who painted the oil-on-canvas work, because previous restorations had added so Nature of the investigation much paint. “I guess that was the biggest problem Emilie Gordenker, the director of Mauritshuis, said This photo provided Tuesday, June that he faced. He couldn’t see a painting by the investigation turned up plenty of surprises. 9, 2015 by Mauritshuis shows Rembrandt because there was no painting to see,” she Peering through the paint, experts saw a canvas that Rembrandt’s “Saul and David” after said yesterday. “And now we’ve taken off all these lay- almost resembled a jigsaw puzzle. “The analysis restororation. — AP photos Brief film taken before Earhart’s last flight surfaces

t was a clear spring day in 1937 when Amelia Like all things Earhart, it comes with controver- was a photo shoot before that flight because she Earhart, ready to make history by flying around sy. Richard Gillespie, executive director of the left quietly that time. Ithe world, brought her personal photographer International Group For Historic Aircraft Recovery, Earhart and Noonan were about two-thirds to a small Southern California airport to document said the film is obviously authentic, but he through their journey when they left New Guinea the journey’s beginning. Al Bresnik took dozens of believes it was taken in March 1937 and not in on July 2 for Howell Island, a tiny speck of land in still photos, including a few that have likely been May, as Swinford concludes. It was in March that the Pacific, midway between Australia and Hawaii. seen by millions. His brother John, who tagged Earhart made her first attempt to become the first In one of her last radio transmissions, the pilot said along, made a very dark, grainy 3.5-minute home woman to circle Earth when she left from she thought they were near but couldn’t see the movie almost nobody saw - until now. The film, California. island and were low on fuel. The first woman to fly “Amelia Earhart’s Last Photo Shoot,” is being solo across the Atlantic, Earhart was one of the released this month by The Paragon Photo shoot most recognizable celebrities of her time, and Agency publishing house, along with an 80- She only got as far as Hawaii, where she crashed Westfall acknowledged that plenty of people may page book of the same name that documents a her twin-engine Electra L-10E on takeoff and had have taken her photo during stops on that trip. But journey that ended tragically short of the finish line to have it shipped home for repairs. “You can tell this appears to be the final film heralding her when Earhart’s plane vanished somewhere over from the way the airplane’s configured,” said departure from California on the first leg of what Newzbeat’s host Sharon Bwogi AKA Lady Slyke (left), writer and producter Daniel the Pacific Ocean. Gillespie who has studied Earhart for nearly 30 would be her final flight. “Then she left us forever,” Kisekka aka ‘Survivor’ and rapper Zoe Kabuye aka ‘MC Loy’ posing at the company’s office A downloadable copy of the film is being pro- years. “The airplane as shown in the film is very Westfall said. — AP in Kampala. — AFP photos vided to those who buy the book. Paragon publish- clearly the pre-repaired airplane.” Whatever the er Doug Westfall said he eventually plans to donate date of the photo shoot, Earhart and her navigator, the fragile original given to him by John Bresnik’s Fred Noonan, left what’s now known as Bob Hope son to an archive or museum. The film, taken with a Airport in Burbank on May 21, 1937, for a second ‘Rap-orters’: Telling the news 16-millimeter camera, sat on a shelf in the office of try, this time heading east. Gillespie doubts there his father for more than 50 years until his death in 1992, said Bresnik’s son, also named John. After in Uganda hip-hop style that, it sat in the younger man’s home in Escondido, California, for about 20 more years. “I ewzbeat” makes a catchy ministers. “People keep asking for more didn’t even know what was on the film until my change from a standard news and asking me questions about certain dad died and I took it home and watched it,” bulletin: Ugandans call the topics,” said Bwogi, 28, who also raps at “N Bresnik said recently. “It just always sat it in a plain broadcasters “rap-orters”, a youth team of venues across Uganda professionally. “I box on a shelf in his office, and on the outside it hip-hop artists-turned-journalists rapping think they love the whole said, ‘Amelia Earhart, Burbank Airport, 1937.’ “ the headlines. “Uganda’s anti-gay law is flavor.”“NewzBeat”, which runs for about making news/Some countries have found it five minutes an episode, usually features Official photos befitting to accuse/Uganda of treating gays about four local, regional and international He can’t say with certainty that his father took as German Jews/Nothing to gain from this stories. Nothing is off limits. The program the film, although he knows his uncle didn’t and more to lose,” rapped the artists in one has “rap-orted” stories on Uganda’s anti- because he’s in it. So is Earhart, looking jaunty recent episode. That song focused on a law pornography laws, the political situation in and more playful than the public persona she signed by President Yoweri Museveni ban- Ukraine and Ebola updates from west sometimes projected. Dressed in a smart ning homosexuality, which drew wide- Africa. pantsuit rather than her standard flight jacket, spread international condemnation. US she shows people around the plane, clambers on Secretary of State John Kerry likened it to Challenging political leaders top to pose for still photos and occasionally grins anti-Semitic legislation in Nazi Germany. Corruption is another favorite topic. “All broadly, something she rarely did in her official In this May 20, 1937 photo, provided by The Amelia Earhart and her Electra plane, taken by “President Museveni says he won’t bow around the world this problem photos. “It shows a more feminine side of her,” Paragon Agency, shows aviator Amelia Earhart Albert Bresnik at Burbank Airport. down to the West/Uganda has a right to remains/The abuse so far is keeping people says Nicole Swinford, who wrote the accompany- on the wing of her Electra plane, taken by decide what’s best,” the rap continued. in chains,” rapped Kisekka in a bulletin on ing book. Albert Bresnik at Burbank Airport in Burbank. Hearing the news in hip-hop style may graft. “But lately some signs of hope have sound strange. But in Uganda, where the made the headlines/Of corrupt officials being handed heavy fines.” Bwogi said “NewzBeat” talked about cor- ruption since graft was a major problem for Uganda. “Sometimes if you want to be attended to... you need to pay a little some- thing,” she said. Often local reporters run into trouble trying to highlight this prob- lem. Uganda’s Human Rights Network for Journalists and other activist groups have repeatedly warned that the space for reporters to operate freely in the east African country is shrinking. Last October, one journalist was ordered to pay damages or face jail after accusing a government official of corruption, and there have been other similar cases. Kabuye, 14, who has rapped on every- Newzbeat’s writer and producter Daniel thing from the Egyptian single mother who Kisekka aka ‘Survivor’ working on his spent 43 years living as a man to the Fred Noonan, with his wife of 55 days, Bea, pos- The original 16-milimeter roll of film shot by Amelia Earhart at her Electra plane cabin. laptop. national identification registration, said ing for photographer Albert Bresnik, next to John Bresnik of Aviator Amelia Earhart and her many of her friends are disinterested in the aviator Amelia Earhart’s plane. — AP photos Electra plane at Burbank Airport on May 20, news. “They used to say it’s boring, but 1937, photographed at The Paragon Agency press faces censorship pressures and the when they see ‘NewzBeat’, they’re like offices in Orange, Calif. country’s huge youth population often ‘what’s the time?’” said the student, who takes little interest in current affairs, a pro- has been rapping since 2009 and now jug- gramme where “rap-orters” broadcast with gles her “NewzBeat” commitments with her “rhyme and reason” has become popular. homework. Kisekka, 40, said that in the “NewzBeat”, screened in both English and beginning many viewers dismissed the the local language Luganda on the popular show as “just entertainment”, but they have FIFA-financed movie nets only channel NTV every Saturday afternoon and come to “appreciate the art form and start evening before the station’s traditional listening to the news”. news bulletins, took to the air last year. People were now taking rap more seri- ously, the artist said. “It is not just talking $900 in limited US release ‘Push the boundaries’ about women and booze and all that, it’s The show is presented by Sharon Bwogi, delivering the news,” said Kisekka. For the he FIFA-financed movie “United Passions” timed to the 2014 World Cup. Screen Media, president of Screen Media, acknowledged “lib- Uganda’s “queen of hip hop” known as Lady future, “NewzBeat” staff are looking at made only about $900 over the week- which declined to report the film’s weekend erties are taken” in the film’s telling of FIFA his- Slyke, the dreadlocked and eloquent Daniel recruiting specialist “rap-orters” to cover Tend, according to a person who has seen grosses, acquired it for US distribution, focus- tory, and said she was distributing the film to Kisekka, dubbed the “Survivor”, and fields such as science and technology. They box-office data from the 10 theaters the film ing on a video-on-demand and digital release. simply “give people a chance to take a look at teenage rapper Zoe Kabuye, or MC Loy. It are also keen to expand across Africa. In played in and was granted anonymity because It paid low six-figures for the rights. The film’s it.” “United Passions” already was a huge write aims to “promote diversity and visibility for Tanzania, a mini-season of four episodes he wasn’t authorized to release the figures. US release was planned months before a down for FIFA. After premiering last year at the marginalized groups” and “push the bound- recently aired and another four are set to Made for about $30 million and largely Justice Department investigation alleged ram- Cannes Film Festival, it found theatrical release aries of press limitations” in Uganda, run in the lead-up to the country’s elec- bankrolled by FIFA to trumpet the soccer fed- pant corruption throughout FIFA and indicted in only Russia, Portugal and Serbia. According according to Lady Slyke. “At first we had tions, scheduled for October. “Media eration’s 111-year history, “United Passions” 14 FIFA officials and executives. The movie, to box office data firm Rentrak, it made some complaints, people were saying belongs to the power of the day,” Bwogi had no expectations of drawing crowds. But which also stars Gerard Depardieu as World $178,639 theatrically before opening in the ‘We’re not really understanding what you’re rapped in one episode. “The Chinese have the minuscule result was still a striking repudi- Cup creator and Sam Neill as for- US, most of that in Russia. — AP doing’,” the designer and artist, who was CCTV/the British have BBC/And we too are ation of a high-priced FIFA puff piece starring mer FIFA president Joao Havelange, gives a inspired by church music to start rapping making our voices heard on NTV.” — AFP Tim Roth as the recently resigned FIFA generally rosy view of the scandal-plagued when she was 13, he said. President . FIFA. Critics have slammed it as corporate But Bwogi added that today people “United Passions” initially was released in a propaganda. from all walks of life followed the program, handful of European markets last summer, In an interview last week, Suzanne Blench, including businessmen and government