Rembrandt paintings prove a hit with Foxton's museum visitors

Gay Hawkey and Andrea Hansen marvel at one of the 57 Rembrandt paintings on display at Te Awahou Neiuwe Stroom.

Replicas of world-famous art works on display at Foxton are receiving rave reviews for resembling the real article.

Levin art lover Andrea Hansen and friend Gay Hawkey were among the hundreds that had flocked to Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom to see the exhibition.

Mrs Hansen, a lover of fine art, was qualified to comment as she had seen many authentic Rembrandt paintings on an extensive tour of Europe 10 years ago.

Mrs Hansen said the works were very much like the originals.

"They are really very good. It's an opportunity for people to see them and it would be very hard to work out the difference, comparing the originals," she said.

"It's a real blessing to go and see it and I would be encouraging people to go and have a look. You don't see art like this every day."

Mrs Hansen said she enjoyed the detail and texture used in art from the Rembrandt era. The characters in the paintings often gave the impression that their gaze was following you.

You could tell in the painting that a Bible was made from leather, or that a beret was made of velvet, such was the detail and vividness of expression.

"It's not just a book. It's not just a hat," she said.

"Another thing was the size of the paintings, the canvases were huge - absolutely magnificent, way beyond what we do today."

"With today's modern art...I think we have regressed."