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    • Posts Tagged ‘Rijksmuseum’

    THIS IS THE YEAR FOR VERMEER

    Sunday, January 8th, 2023
    Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) – Girl with a Pearl Earring 1664-67, Mauritshuis, The Hague

    This is the year for Vermeer. Excitement is building in advance of the opening on February 10 of the Rijksmuseum exhibition in Amsterdam which has been bolstered by loans from the US, Europe and Japan to become the largest Vermeer show ever.  At least 27 out of his very small oeuvre of around three dozen paintings loaned from the most prestigious museums in the world will be on display. Among the highlights is Lady Writing a Letter with Her Maid c1670 from the collection of Ireland’s National Gallery.  In an extraordinary gesture the Frick Collection in New York has lent all three of its Vermeer masterpieces, The Girl Interrupted at Her Music, Officer and Laughing Girl and Mistress and Maid.

    Highlights include The Girl with a Pearl Earring  from the Mauritshuis in The Hague, The Geographer from the Stadel Museum, Frankfurt and Woman Holding a Balance from the National Gallery of Art in Washington. Another Vermeer from the Washington museum, Girl with a Flute, is the source of the sort of gleeful controversy that always dogs the art world. The National Gallery of Art in Washington announced recently that after long and careful scientific study it had decided that this painting was not by Vermeer and most likely by a pupil or apprentice.The director of the Rijksmuseum Taco Dibbits said that their view is more inclusive and they had decided the work should be in the show. Dibbits said there were questions about the authenticity of other works too and that their analysis showed that Vermeer was an artist who experimented and took different artistic routes.

    Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) – The Geographer, Stadel Museum, Frankfurt.

    Last year the Rijksmuseum announced that advanced scientific studies into one of its own Vermeers, The Milkmaid, yielded several startling discoveries. Two objects in the world famous canvas, a jug holder and a fire basket, had been painted over by the artist. Analysis revealed an underpainting and offered insights into the processes of Johannes Vermeer as he sought to capture the tranquility for which his work is famous. This is the first time that the Rijksmuseum, the National Museum of The Netherlands, has dedicated a retrospective to the 17th century master. It will run until June 4.

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    WOMEN ON PAPER AT THE RIJKSMUSEUM

    Sunday, December 18th, 2022
    Self-portrait with Julie Manet, Berthe Morisot, 1888 – ca. 1930. Gift of the heirs of Henny, Amsterdam

    Women on Paper is the title of an exhibition which has just opened at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.  Work by a selection of women artists across four centuries including drawings, prints and photographs by Gesina ter Borch, Berthe Morisot, Kathe Kollwitz and Julia Margaret Cameron, has been assembled.  The show, displayed across five rooms in different parts of the museum, results from a long term stock taking study of work by women in the collection and aims to create a more balanced representation. It runs until June 5, 2023.

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    RIJKSMUSEUM ACQUIRES 1632 CABINET BY HERMAN DOOMER

    Thursday, November 24th, 2022
    Cabinet, Herman Doomer, 1632. Rijksmuseum

    A masterwork by Herman Doomer, the leading cabinet maker in The Netherlands in the 17th century, goes on display in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam from November 25. Made in 1632 the ebony cupboard with mother-of-pearl inlay was in private hands for several centuries. It is believed to be Doomer’s first masterwork, and the only piece by him that can be accurately dated. It will be displayed beside another by Doomer in the Rijksmuseum collection since 1975 in the Gallery of Honour until March 14, 2023.

    Doomer introduced new styles and techniques to cabinetmaking and counted Rembrandt amongst his admirers. Rembrandt painted portraits of Herman Doomer and his wife Baertje Martens in 1640. These paintings now hang in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Hermitage in St Petersburg. The lower section is fairly traditional, in the upper section the cabinetmaker introduced movement and Baroque innovation, such as in the fan-shaped ripple and twisted columns. The cabinet is inlaid with costly ebony wood and radiant mother-of-pearl – a combination that was entirely new to Amsterdam. 

    A detail of the cabinet.

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    RIJKSMUSEUM MAKES DISCOVERIES ABOUT THE MILKMAID BY VERMEER

    Thursday, September 8th, 2022
    The Milkmaid, Johannes Vermeer, c. 1660. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

    Advanced research technologies into the Vermeer painting The Milkmaid, conducted in the run-up to Rijksmuseum’s major Vermeer exhibition in 2023 has yielded several startling discoveries.  Advanced research technologies have brought to light two objects on Vermeer’s world-famous canvas:  a jug holder and a fire basket.  The artist himself later painted over the objects.  The most recent scans also uncovered what is clearly an underpainting. These discoveries offer revealing insights into Vermeer’s process and his search for capturing the tranquil atmosphere that characterises his work.

    The general assumption was that the artist produced his small oeuvre very slowly, and always worked with extreme precision.  This view is now being revised.  A hastily applied thick line of black paint can be seen beneath the milkmaid’s left arm.  This sketch shows clearly that Vermeer first quickly painted the scene in light and dark tones before developing the detail. A similar preliminary sketch in black paint can be seen on the wall behind the young woman’s head.  By comparing the results it has now become clear that Vermeer used black paint to sketch a jug holder and several jugs, but didn’t develop them any further.  The jug holder, a plank of wood with knobs attached, was used in 17th-century kitchens for hanging up multiple ceramic jugs by the handle.  A pantry in Vermeer’s own home contained a similar item. Scientists identified the previously discovered basket, at the lower right of the painting, as a so-called ‘fire basket’.  Woven from willow stems, or withies, this type of basket was a standard household item for young families.  A fire bowl containing glowing coals was placed in the basket to keep new-borns warm and to dry nappies. 

    Tickets for the Vermeer exhibition from February 10 – June 4 2023 go on sale today on the Rijksmuseum website: rijksmuseum.nl/Vermeer

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    GREAT SHOWS AT NATIONAL GALLERY OF IRELAND AND IMMA

    Saturday, July 16th, 2022
    Rembrandt van Rijn – Self-portrait with beret, wide eyed 1630 (etching) Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.

    Rich pickings for art lovers at summer exhibitions in Dublin range from remarkable drawings on loan from the Rijksmuseum at the National Gallery of Ireland to an artistic examination of the science fiction of the present at IMMA. Intimate insights into 17th century life in the Netherlands can be seen at Dutch Drawings: highlights from the Rijksmuseum which opens at the National Gallery today.  This rare loan exhibition selected from the world renowned collection in Amsterdam offers 48 works by 31 different artists. Among them are Rembrandt, Hendrick Avercamp, Nicolaes Berchem, Jacob van Ruisdael, Gerard ter Boch, Ferdinand Bol and Albert Cuyp.

    This show offers Irish audiences a unique opportunity to view at close quarters works which range from studies of plants and animals, daily life, portraits, architecture and landscape. This art conveys a strong sense of what life as it was lived then was like.  Drawing was a portable and inexpensive medium.  There are differing techniques with works in graphite, ink, watercolour, chalks, etchings and woodcuts plus a small number of prints by Rembrandt. The exhibition shows artists striving to understand the world around them.  It continues at the National Gallery runs until November 6.

    Aelbert Cuyp – View of Dordrecht c1650. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.

    The exhibition at IMMA is concerned with insights by artists into the world as we know it now.  On show here is a cross section of works produced between 2022 and 2018 by The Otolith Group, a London based collective founded in 2002 by Anjalika Sagar and Kodwo Eshun.  Otoliths are bodies in the inner ear involved with sensing gravity and movement. These pioneering artworks utilising film, video and multi-screen installations address contemporary, social and planetary issues, the disruptions of neo-colonialism, the way in which humans have impacted the earth and the influence of new technology on consciousness. The exhibition is entitled Xenogenesis (the production of an organism unlike the parent) and it reflects the commitment by the artists to creating what they think of as ‘a science fiction of the present’ through images, voices, sounds and performance.  Themes are both universal and relevant to contemporary life.
    IMMA director and curator of the exhibition Annie Fletcher said: “The Otolith Group’s films and installations address the forces and events that have shaped our world while offering inspiring examples and models  of how we might collectively imagine a different future”.

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    HIDDEN SKETCH DISCOVERED UNDER THE NIGHT WATCH

    Tuesday, December 28th, 2021

    A previously hidden sketch has been discovered during examinations of Rembrandt’s The Night Watch at the Rijksmuseum. The genesis of the famous painting is revealed in an underpainted sketch discovered using new technologies. This allows researchers to look through the layers of paint with greater specificity than ever before and analyse in minute detail the materials that Rembrandt used. The artist applied a brown ‘quarts’ ground and used a beige paint with a high chalk content for his rough sketch. To date, no other paintings by Rembrandt have been discovered that were prepared using this type of paint.

    A team of Operation Night Watch researchers have been meticulously mapping the painting for the past two-and-a-half years and produced an unprecedented volume of data. Rembrandt originally painted feathers for the helmet of militiaman Claes van Cruijsbergen, but later painted them over. The artist also adjusted the leg position of Rombout Kemp – the many scans revealed that the leg initially was painted in a different position at an earlier stage. There are also indications of the presence of an additional sword between the captain and the lieutenant and it has become clear that Rembrandt originally indicated have a larger number of spears projecting above of company.

    (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for October 17, 2018)

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    FEMALE POWER AT RIJKSMUSEUM SCHIPOL

    Tuesday, November 2nd, 2021
    Five Woman in an Interior, Northern Netherlands, c. 1630-1652

    Female Power opens at Rijksmuseum Schiphol on November 3. This exhibition foregrounds the portrayal of strong and individual women in paintings from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, and the work of female artists. Each of the women has a unique story testifying to their willpower, vision and courage. The exhibition will run for a full year, and entrance is free to travellers at Schiphol Airport.

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    RIJKSMUSEUM TO MARK 350TH ANNIVERSARY OF BIRTH OF REMBRANDT

    Monday, January 7th, 2019
    The 350th anniversary of Rembrandt’s birth falls this year and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam will mark it with a series of exhibitions and special events. Celebrations kick off on February 15 when the museum will present for the first time an exhibition of all 22 paintings, 60 drawings and more than 300 of the finest examples of Rembrandt’s prints in its collection. In July the public are invited to watch as the restoration of The Night Watch gets underway in a clear glass chamber designed by French architect Michel Wilmotte. A Rembrandt- Velazquez exhibition later in the year will showcase paintings by the two great masters of the 17th century.
    Rembrandt’s art embraces a wide range of style and subject matter, from portraits and self-portraits to landscapes, genre scenes, allegorical and historical scenes, biblical and mythological themes as well as animal studies. His self portraits enable us to come to know him at all stages of his life. He made nearly 100 self portraits including over 40 paintings.  Here are two examples:

    Rembrandt Self Portrait c1628.

    Rembrandt Self Portrait wearing a soft hat (1632-36).

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    THE NIGHT WATCH TO BE RESTORED IN PUBLIC

    Wednesday, October 17th, 2018

    Rembrandt’s masterpiece The Night Watch is to be restored in public at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam beginning in July 2019.  The 1642 work will be restored in a painstaking process likely to take years, and all on public display.  The varnish on the painting has darkened over the years, dimming the original colours.  Here is a video about the the project from the Rijksmuseum.

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    HALLMARKS OF TEFAF MAASTRICHT ARE RARITY AND QUALITY

    Saturday, March 10th, 2018

    Bartolomeo Ammannati – wax models from the 16th century are extremely rare.

    The daddy of all fairs, The European Fine Art Fair TEFAF is now underway in Maastricht in The Netherlands. Distinguished by the rarity and quality this is where curators and the wealthiest collectors in the world come to buy.  On the opening day the Rijksmuseum acquired an Italian sculpture from 1556.  The expressive wax model of a naked young man holding a globe as a symbol of the cosmos was made by Bartolomeo Ammannati.  Made for the Medici family it is a preparatory model for the fountain in the Palazzo Pitti.

    Torso of a Crouching Woman by Camille Claudel

    This large fair divided into a variety of sections is a hub for more than 280 of the worlds finest art, antiques and design dealers.  Sculpture from across the centuries is particularly well represented this year.  An extraordinary, evocative bronze piece, Torso of a Crouching Woman by Camille Claudel (1864-1943) at Daniel Katz Gallery is believed to reflect the destructive relationship between Claudel and Auguste Rodin in whose studio she worked for many years.

    At TEFAF Design Demisch Danant offer an impressive wall library crafted in 1958 and presented that year at the Brussels International Exposition where it was awarded the Grand Prix and Gold Medal.
    At TEFAF Modern Paolo Antonacci celebrates the first retrospective dedicated to the Italian artist Marino Marini at the Peggy Guggenheim Gallery in Venice.  He is showing the powerful Cavallo e Cavaliere, a 1952 oil on canvas by Marini (1901-1980).
    Richard Nagy will offer works by the Austrian master Egon Schiele, the centenary of whose death occurs this year.  Among these are Nude with Green Stockings 1918, a gouache and black crayon on paper.
    TEFAF Ancient Art enables visitors to view some of the oldest works of art available to buy today with objects from right around the world.  A highlight from The Merrin Gallery is a Mayan polychrome cylinder vase depicting young corn gods on a jaguar skin cushion which dats to 550-950 AD.

    TEFAF Tribal is the newest section of the fair, which made its first appearance last year.  Of note here is a standing statue from New Ireland, black Uli, which is shown by  the Belgian dealer Bernard de Grunne.  TEFAF continues until March 18.

    Black Uli, a Standing Statue from New Ireland

    The wall library was awarded the Grand Prix and Gold Medal at the Brussels Exposition of 1958

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