It used to be that exhibitions featuring the works of Rembrandt would go to great lengths to separate the master's paintings from those of his students. Now, though, a new exhibit in Berlin -- part of international celebrations to mark the Dutch painter's 400th birthday -- sheds new light on Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn by ignoring traditional wisdom.

The result is a unique show of 277 paintings, drawings and prints by Rembrandt and a number of his understudies. On display in Berlin's Museum of Old Master Paintings at Potsdamer Platz in the heart of the German capital since Friday, the show -- divided into three parts as part of a new crowd-management experiment -- has already attracted some 10,000 visitors.

The exhibition was organized by museums in Berlin and the Rembrandt House in Amsterdam and includes works from smaller exhibits in St. Petersburg, Los Angeles, and Melbourne. Some unseen works are on display for the first time.

Peter-Klaus Schuster, the director of the Museum of Old Master Paintings, says that the show is groundbreaking because it offers a view to Rembrandt that most people have never seen. It has both works by the master and his students in an effort to highlight Rembrandt's work as a teacher.

"We wondered why you were always supposed to separate the master Rembrandt and his students. Only when they are displayed together you're able to see who the master really is," Schuster told AP.

The exhibition reflects major advances in the study of Rembrandt made in recent years by the Rembrandt Research Project. The project has for decades been trying to verify the origin of works long attributed to Rembrandt. Of the 126 works originally attributed to Rembrandt held by Berlin's Museum of Prints and Drawings, for example, only 55 are now thought to be his with the others likely having come from his students.

The current exhibit displays them together as a way of giving museum goers a deeper understanding of Rembrandt the artist. One of the show's highlights is "Girl in a Picture Frame." The work was long in private hands and was only recently donated to a major Warsaw collection.