 These objects and his solitude make him a much better candidate for philosophical tasks than the old man in the alleged "Philosopher in Meditation".In spite of the obvious differences in the composition and execution, no one called its attribution to Rembrandt in doubt.The great exception is the American art historian John C. Van Dyke, who whittled Rembrandt's oeuvre down to less than fifty paintings and made short shrift of the Louvre's "Philosophers"