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14/4/2000

Dutch art

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Paintings, sculpture and decorative art: 15 April to 17 September 2000
Drawings and prints: 15 April to 16 July 2000

To mark its bicentenary, from 15 April 2000 the Rijksmuseum will present a survey of Dutch art in the 17th century through a range of masterpieces. On the upper floor of the museum two hundred paintings, sculptures and works of decorative art will be displayed, while in the galleries of the Print Room about one hundred drawings and prints will be on view. For both parts of the exhibition the works have been chosen with the greatest care in order to provide the richest and most representative overview possible of the artistic production of this period. All the leading artists of the age are represented by at least one characteristic work; in the case of the most eminent and versatile masters - such as Frans Hals, Rembrandt, Ruisdael, Steen and Vermeer - several masterpieces from the Rijksmuseum and other collections will be shown.

About half the works exhibited come from the Rijksmuseum, with the Night Watch forming the centrepiece. The other half consist of special loans, mainly from museums in other countries. The choice of loans is intended to fill out and where necessary strengthen the picture of 17th-century art provided by the Rijksmuseum collections. In some cases these are pivotal masterpieces which are missing from the Rijksmuseum and which add to the view of the development of art in the Golden Age. An effort has been made to find works that have not been seen in the Netherlands for a long time, so that even for frequent visitors to the museum the exhibition will offer numerous surprises.

The exhibition starts in the Gallery of Honour and takes up a large part of the painting galleries on the upper floor. The development of Dutch art in the 17th century is followed more or less chronologically, with Rembrandt's Night Watch of 1642 retaining its central position in the Night Watch room. The exhibition is presented in 24 cabinets and rooms, each showing a related group of works. On a broadly chronological basis, there is a thematic arrangement by genre and specialisation. Specific movements such as Mannerism, Caravaggism and classicism are of course considered. Several rooms are given over to the portrait, the still life, the landscape, the genre scene and the history painting (biblical and mythological subjects), and one room features the so-called Delft School.

At the beginning of the exhibition several works show the influence of Mannerism on Dutch art of the early 17th-century. They include St Sebastian by Joachim Wtewael (dated 1600) from the Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, which is juxtaposed with a painting of the same saint by the Caravaggist Hendrick ter Brugghen (dated 1625) from the Allen Memorial Art Museum in Oberlin, Ohio. The latter work demonstrates how the Utrecht Caravaggisti introduced a new, realistic idiom. Another masterpiece by Hendrick ter Brugghen, the Concert from the National Gallery in London, together with the Merry drinker by Frans Hals from the museum's own collection and the Young flute player by Judith Leyster from the Nationalmuseum Stockholm, makes clear how the Caravaggisti influenced Frans Hals and his pupils.

The exhibition's last room shows how court art flourished under Stadholder-King William III, with sculpture by Blommendael and Ebbelaer, inlaid cabinets by among others Jan van Mekeren, large Delftware tulip vases from the royal collection at Hampton Court, silver objects, and large paintings by Melchior d'Hondecoeter, Jan Weenix and Gerard de Lairesse. The highly decorative character of these works reflect the luxurious tastes of the Stadholder and the Amsterdam regents.

Between this beginning and end the best known artists - Frans Hals, Rembrandt, Ruisdael and Vermeer - are all represented by several important and characteristic works.

Apart from the masterfully painted and engaging Merry drinker, the early work of Frans Hals is present in the form of the Marriage portrait of Isaac Massa and Beatrix van der Laan, both from the Rijksmuseum.

Leading up to Rembrandt's Night Watch, several spectacular examples of Rembrandt's work from the 1630s are shown together with work by several of his contemporaries. In addition to the Portrait of Johannes Wtenbogaert of 1633, the Anatomy lesson of Dr Tulp, dated 1632, from the Mauritshuis is on view. From the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles comes the Rape of Europa (1632) and from the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister Dresden The wedding of Samson (1638), two works by Rembrandt which left the Netherlands in the 18th century. They will be displayed together with his Jeremiah of 1633 and history paintings by Pieter Lastman and Govert Flinck.

In a large room later in the exhibition the late work of two masters of the portrait - Frans Hals and Rembrandt - will be shown side by side. Rembrandt's Syndics of 1662 and Hals's slightly larger group portrait The Regents of the Old Men's Almshouse in Haarlem from the Frans Halsmuseum in Haarlem will be displayed together, next to Rembrandt's Maidservant at a window from the Nationalgalerie Stockholm and his Jewish bride. This room will also have the Self-Portrait by Carel Fabritius from Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam and Aert de Gelder's masterpiece Ahimelech and David from the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

In a room devoted to landscape in the 1630s and 1640s Rembrandt's Landscape with stone bridge will have a place beside Hercules Segers's imposing Mountain landscape from the Uffizi in Florence and the View on Naarden by Jacob van Ruisdael. In the room with the later, so-called classical landscape Ruisdael has a central place, together with work by Albert Cuyp, Philips de Koninck, Meindert Hobbema and Jan van de Capelle. As well as Ruisdael's Windmill at Wijk bij Duurstede from the Rijksmuseum, his most famous works - the Jewish cemetery from the Detroit Institute of Arts and Castle Bentheim from the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin - can be seen.

Johannes Vermeer is represented by two masterpieces from the Rijksmuseum - The little street and the Milkmaid, and by his Glass of wine from the Gemäldegalerie Berlin, one of the few works not included in the 1996 exhibition in the Mauritshuis, The Hague. It will be restored specially for this occasion. This remarkable loan bears a close affinity to the works by Pieter de Hooch exhibited and the unusual pendants by Gabriel Metsu from the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin, Man writing and The Letter Reader. The same room also contains the unique The goldfinch by Carel Fabritius from the Mauritshuis.

As far as possible sculpture and the decorative arts are given a functional place in the display. Thus several silver showpieces by Paulus and Adam van Vianen and the so-called Diana tapestry by François Spierings are shown in the first Mannerism cabinet. Near to the superb still lifes by among others Pieter Claesz and Willem Claesz there is a display of several fine glasses and silver objects similar to those depicted in these works. After the Night Watch room a cabinet is devoted to the role of the auricular style of ornament in furniture and silver (Breghtel, Johannes Lutma). This influence is also seen in painting, in the original frame of Ferdinand Bol's Self-Portrait and in the cradle depicted in the outstanding The twins Clara and Aelbert de Bray by Salomon de Bray from a private collection. Paintings also play a role in a room devoted to the Dutch interior: an Interior by Emmanuel de Witte from the Alte Pinakothek in Munich and a large Family portrait by Bartholomeus van der Helst from the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, alongside a silver toilet set, cabinets, glass, Delftware and an inlaid tabletop by David van Rijswijk. As we have seen, sculpture and the decorative arts have an important role in the last room too, which is given over to art at the court of the Stadholder-King William III.

The restoration of two historic and monumental works - the tomb of William the Silent of 1615-20 in the Oude Kerk in Delft and the Oranjezaal in Huis ten Bosch of about 1650 - provided a unique opportunity to include parts of them in the exhibition. The tomb in the Oude Kerk is by the Amsterdam architect and sculptor Hendrik de Keyser; from it come the two magnificent life-size female figures in bronze, personifying the virtues Liberty and Justice, which stand at the beginning of the exhibition. Allegory on the birth of Frederick Henry, a large chimneypiece by Cesar van Everdingen, is from the Oranjezaal in the Huis ten Bosch palace. It will have a central place in a room of classicist history pieces with work by among others Ferdinand Bol, Jan de Bray and Karel Dujardin. These works have never left their original location, and the works in Huis ten Bosch have hardly ever been accessible to the public.

Many of the works from abroad left the Netherlands centuries ago and rarely if ever returned for exhibitions. So such paintings as The Bacchanal (1627) by Moses van Uytenbroeck from the Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum in Brunswick, The duet by Cornelis Saftleven from the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Vienna and Van de Cappelle's Calm sea (1654) from the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff will be among the surprises in the exhibition.

Dutch drawings of the Golden Age excel in their depiction of man and nature. These superb landscapes and figures are among the finest achievements of Dutch art, so any survey of art from the 17th century must include drawings and prints. They will be shown in the galleries of the Print Room from 15 April to 16 July 2000. The earlier closing date as compared with the paintings and decorative arts is because of the sensitivity to light of these works. Some fifty drawings have been selected from the Rijksmuseum's holdings and from other leading collections here and abroad. Many masters including Rembrandt, Jacob van Ruisdael, Saenredam and Buytewech are represented by their best work. One of the highlights promises to be an exceptional loan from the British Museum: the pen and ink drawing of a sleeping woman by Rembrandt, a work that is very rarely allowed to travel. The range of subjects covered in prints is impressive: portraits, biblical and allegorical themes, still lifes, flowers and animals. Very rare impressions by Rembrandt and Seghers from the Rijksmuseum collection are on view in the exhibition.

Many museums have proved willing to make available works that are great favourites with the public for this exhibition marking the Rijksmuseum's 200th anniversary. As a result it will have a uniquely festive character. In recent decades the art of the Golden Age has been the subject of numerous exhibitions dealing with aspects or movements such as Mannerism, Caravaggism, classicism, the fijnschilders or such themes as the landscape, the still life, the history painting, the portrait, the genre scene, etc. The work of the most important artists of the period has also been seen in monographic exhibitions. However, it is a long time since there was a comprehensive, representative survey which also found space for drawings and prints, and sculpture and the decorative arts. The last such overview was Art in Seventeenth-Century Holland at the National Gallery in London in 1976, which was based on its own collection supplemented by loans. The starting point for the current exhibition is the picture of Dutch art of the 17th century as shaped by the Rijksmuseum over the last two hundred years. It takes into account changing views of the canon of 17th-century art during the museum's existence. Thus it is only since the 1970s that the Mannerists and Caravaggisti have been given a place in the survey of Dutch art in this period, while most of the significant early still lifes, and the early Rembrandts, as well as important silver by Vianen and Lutma, have been acquired only in recent decades. The interest in history painting and the later fijnschilders is even more recent. The aim of the exhibition is to present a balanced, coherent and, as far as possible, up-to-date picture of Dutch art of the 17th century, which has had a central place in the Rijksmuseum since the founding of the Nationale Konst-Gallerij in 1800.


Daily 10.00 - 17.00 Closed on 1 January

Study collection: Paintings and Decorative Arts
Monday to Saturday 13.00 - 17.00
Restricted entry: ID required

Study Library and Print Room
Tuesday to Saturday 10.00-17.00 (limited service between 12.45 and 14.00).
Closed on Public Holidays
ID required

Main Entrance:
Stadhouderskade 42
1071 ZD Amsterdam

Postal address:
PO Box 74888
1070 DN Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Tel. +31 (0)20 6747047 (public information line)
Fax. +31 (0)20 6747001

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