The Painting and Its Histories : The Curious Incident of Rembrandt’s Painting Quintus Fabius Maximus Key words: Quintus Fabius Maximus, Rembrandt, Royal Compound, Lost Masterpiece, Archival Documentation Todorović, Jelena 2017 https://phaidrabg.bg.ac.rs/o:31623 doi:10.1007/978-3-319-55173-9_11 info:eu-repo/semantics/bookPart All rights reserved application/pdf 200328 bytes Regimes of Invisibility in Contemporary Art, Theory and Culture eng Abstract: As much as images created the landscapes of fictive history throughout the ages, the images themselves often had greatly mystified histories of their own. However, in certain instances the real history of an image is often far more intricate than the most incredible myth created around it. One such work is a long lost masterpiece – Rembrandt’s “Quint Fabius Maximus” from the State Art Collection of the Royal Compound in Belgrade (SAC). This study intends to research the real history of Rembrandt’s painting, its fate during the war and its reappearance in archival documents. It shows how images create histories themselves, not only through their subject matter or the politics of collecting but also through their incorporation into the public imagination.