The Age of Rembrandt: A Review
17th-century Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's entire collection of 228 paintings from the 17th-century Dutch Golden Age is on display in a monumental exhibition.
The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, on view from September 18, 2007 to January 6, 2008, celebrates the 400th anniversary of the birth of prolific artist Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (1606-1669), albeit a year late. It's the first of three presentations at the New York museum this season that deals, in whole or in part, with art from 17th-century Holland. This landmark show coincides with the publication of a comprehensive two-volume catalogue of The Met's 228 paintings from the Dutch Golden Age, all presently on display in an expansive, second-floor exhibition area and three of its adjacent European Paintings galleries. Eight works from a 1995 promised gift are on public view for the first time. Thankfully, The Met's stein runneth over when it comes to holdings from this pivotal period in the history of art.
Space limitations considered, The Metropolitan Museum of Art can display about one-third of its precious Dutch paintings at any given time. For this unique endeavor, all 228 works have been assembled from the museum's permanent collection, Robert Lehman Wing, Jack and Belle Linsky Collection and storage facilities. Realistic portraits, genre paintings (scenes of everyday life), landscapes, marine views, still lifes and works of historical and biblical subjects comprise this exhaustive once-in-a-lifetime exhibition. A number of them are rarely on display; others never leave their auspicious Fifth Avenue premises because they're extremely fragile.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's initial 174 European Old Master paintings included many Dutch works. Like a living organism, the museum's collection has expanded and contracted over the years through the acquisition of pivotal artworks (by purchase, gift or bequest ) and the deaccession (sale) of others. Curator Walter Lietdke has cleverly arranged The Met's current inventory of Dutch paintings in approximate order of appropriation rather than chronologically by date of production. This method of organization reflects the defining tastes of American collectors, contributors and scholars over time, from the United States' prosperous Gilded Age (ca. 1875-1900) that followed the disastrous economic Panic of 1873 through the early years of this decade. (Students of art history, fear not. The artists and their works are listed alphabetically by the painters' surnames in The Met's new hefty catalogue raisonné.)
The museum's sweeping panorama of the northern European achievement in 17th-century Dutch painting includes 20 works by Rembrandt, 11 by Frans Hals (b. after 1580-1666), five by Johannes Verneer (1632-1675), another quintet by Pieter de Hooch (1629-1684), three by Jan Havicksz. Steen and others by lesser-known artists. They join an array of landscapes by Jacob van Ruisdael (1628/28-1682), Aelbert Cuyp (1620-1691) and their accomplished contemporaries.
Rembrandt's fascination with the direct observation of his subjects "from life" is evident in his penetrating Self-portrait (1660), one of many produced during his lifetime. Having used a mirror, the artist spared no detail in realistically rendering the wrinkles of his aged visage through an adept use of light and shade.
Merrymakers at Shrovetide (ca. 1615) by Frans Hals depicts a gregarious group of seemingly intoxicated revelers at the pre-Lenten feast of Vastenavond (Mardi Gras), an event devoted to jovial frivolity and bombastic behavior. The inspiration for two of the men surrounding the central figure (probably a male actor dressed in flamboyant female finery) comes from Dutch works of comedy. The gentleman with a festoon or garland of sausages and eggs around his neck represents the uproarious Peeckelhaering (Pickled Herring); another with sausages atop his brimless cap depicts Hans Wurst, a stock theatrical character of the time. The provocative gesture by one of the presumed female's cohorts, as well as the table's bagpipes and particular foods, are Netherlandish symbolic references to the encounter's promiscuous nature.
Essentially self-taught as a painter, Johannes Vermeer readily absorbed the lessons of his predecessors and peers. In his town of Delft, Vermeer's known to have shared artistic ideas with painter Pieter de Hooch during the 1650s. The artist's captivating oil on canvas Portrait of a Young Woman (probably ca. 1665-67) is a thoughtful examination of human nature and facial expression. Bust-length images such as this one, called tronies, emphasized the sitter's face. They were highly coveted by collectors of Vermeer's day because of the extraordinarily realistic visual effects achieved by the artist. Most people entering the gallery where this painting is currently on view are immediately drawn to its alluring countenance, a singular testament to Vermeer's consummate abilities as a superior portraitist.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection of Dutch paintings is undeniably the greatest in the Western Hemisphere. A chance to view it as a whole, regardless of the order in which its paintings have been mounted, is a cause célèbre. That having been said, run, don't walk, to see The Age of Rembrandt... , an exhibition of exceptional masterworks that will seem to have closed as quickly as it had opened. This presentation is neither scheduled to travel nor to be missed.
Sources:
- Liedtke, Walter. Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007.
- _____, et al. Vermeer and the Delft School (exh. cat.). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001.
- Quodbach, Esmée. The Age of Rembrandt in New York: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007.
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