On 9 November 2006, the traditional annual V.F. Levinson-Lessing Memorial Readings provided the framework for a scholarly conference in the State Hermitage dedicated to various aspects of investigations into the artistic career of Rembrandt (1606-1669). Among those taking part in the conference were staff of the Hermitage, the St Petersburg Branch of the Central State Archive of Literature and Art, the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow) and the European University (St Petersburg).

The reports dealt with issues of iconography of the works (A.O. Larionov, 'On the Subject in Rembrandt's Drawing Known as the Standing Actor'; O.V. Chezhevskaya, 'Rembrandt and the Art of Medallion-making'), the history of the great Dutchman's artistic heritage (S.O. Androsov, 'Rembrandt's Works in 17th Century Italy'), as well as the specifics of interpretations of Rembrandt's works in the 19th and 20th centuries (E. Zyrianova, 'Rembrandt and the Photograph in the Second Half of the 19th Century - Start of the 20th Century'; Yu. Ravvina, 'The Image of Rembrandt in Russian Critical Writing, 1870-1930s'). A number of reports were devoted to the role of Rembrandt's paintings in the Hermitage collection (S.Ya. Karp, 'Prince Dmitry Golitsyn and the Hermitage's First Catalogue of Paintings'; I.A. Sokolova, 'Rembrandt Paintings from Private Collections which Left Russia (1890 - 1930s)'; N.M. Serapina, 'Documents from the St Petersburg Branch of the Central State Archive of Literature and Art. On the Sale of Rembrandt Paintings from the Hermitage (1928 - 1934').

During the conference there was the first public reading of a novella by A.S. Kochetkov (1900 - 1953) about Rembrandt entitled Homer's Head (1941).

V.F.Levinson-Lessing
1961
A drawing by
Georgy Vereyski