'Rembrandt to Vermeer' exhibition marks Amsterdam's 750th anniversary
A large private collection of Dutch Old Masters is making available 75 of its works, including 18 Rembrandts, for the celebration of Amsterdam's 750th anniversary this year.
The "From Rembrandt to Vermeer, Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection" is on show from Wednesday to August 24 at the H'ART Museum in the city centre.
The museum describes the exhibition as "a unique and intimate glimpse into the 17th-century Netherlands through the eyes of the great Dutch Masters."
Other artists include Frans Hals, Jan Steen, Ferdinand Bol, Gerard Dou and Frans van Mieris.
The exhibition includes the only Vermeer still in private hands - "A Young woman Seated at the Virginals."
The exhibition sketches many facets of Amsterdam life, highlighting everything from food, drink, reading and music to aging, parenting and the art of portraiture and self-portraiture.
It includes character studies of people from various backgrounds, at the market, in the pub or in their homes.
The focus is formed by 17 paintings and one drawing by Rembrandt, who moved to Amsterdam from Leiden in 1630.
The US-French art collector Thomas Kaplan has been fascinated by Rembrandt since childhood and has assembled "The Leiden Collection"in the artist's honour.
The H'ART website notes that the exhibition depicts many women, from wealthy matrons to goddesses to ordinary citizens.
"Particularly noteworthy is the inclusion of a painting by Maria Schalcken, one of the few women in her time known to be working as a painter," it adds. —dpa
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Observer
9 hours ago
- Observer
'Largest Princess Diana auction' features frocks, hats and bags
From colourful frocks and hats to handbags and shoes, items belonging to the late Princess Diana go under the hammer this month in what Julien's Auctions says is the largest collection of her fashion to go to auction. The live and online "Princess Diana's Style & A Royal Collection" sale will take place on June 26 at The Peninsula Beverly Hills, offering an array of fashion items Diana wore. "This is the largest Princess Diana auction because we have over 100 items from her amazing life and in mind Diana over 70 of her in 1997 to raise money for her charity," Martin Nolan, executive director and co-founder of Julien's Auctions, told Reuters on Monday. He was speaking at the Museum of Style Icons in Newbridge in Ireland during a pre-sale exhibition. Among the highlights is a 1988 silk floral dress by Bellville Sassoon, dubbed the "caring dress" because Diana wore it several times on hospital visits, with a price estimate of $200,000-$300,000. A cream silk embroidered evening gown Catherine Walker designed for Diana's 1986 Gulf tour has a similar price tag, while a Bruce Oldfield two-piece yellow floral ensemble she wore for Royal Ascot in 1987 is estimated at $100,000-$200,000. Other sale items include a Dior handbag gifted to her by former French first lady Bernadette Chirac in 1995, a sketch of Diana's 1981 wedding dress with tulle fabric cut-offs from when she married then Prince Charles in 1981 and a peach hat she wore for her honeymoon send-off. The auction also includes pieces belonging to other British royals including the late Queen Elizabeth II and the queen mother. Nolan said Julien's Auctions had previously sold a dress belonging to Diana for $1.14 million. "People do consider these items as an asset class now, because if people own these items today, chances are in years to come they will sell them for more than what they pay for (at) auction," he said. Part of the proceeds from the sale of Diana's items will go to charity Muscular Dystrophy UK. The pre-sale exhibition in Newbridge will run until June 17. —Reuters
Muscat Daily
10 hours ago
- Muscat Daily
Frederick Forsyth, 'Day of the Jackal' author, dies aged 86
London, UK – Frederick Forsyth, the British author of The Day of the Jackal and other bestselling thrillers, has died after a brief illness, his literary agent said on Monday. He was 86. Jonathan Lloyd, his agent, said Forsyth died at home early on Monday surrounded by his family. 'We mourn the passing of one of the world's greatest thriller writers,' Lloyd said. Forsyth published more than 25 books, also including The Odessa File and The Dogs of War , and sold 75mn copies around the world, he said. 'Luck played its big part' Forsyth's most famous work was about a fictional assassination attempt on former French President Charles de Gaulle by right-wing extremists 35 days after falling on hard times. The Jackal went on to be made into a hit film starring Edward Fox as the assassin. A Netflix remake, with Eddie Redmayne in the lead role, was released last year. Forsyth attributed much of this success to 'luck', recalling how a bullet narrowly missed him while he was covering the bloody Nigerian civil war between 1967 and 1970. 'I have had the most spectacular luck all through my life,' he told British newspaper The Times last November in an interview. 'Right place, right time, right person, right contact, right promotion – and even just turning my head away when that bullet went past,' he said. Final novel to be released in August Forsyth was a former journalist and pilot and saw many of his novels were also turned into films. 'After serving as one of the youngest ever RAF pilots, he turned to journalism, using his gift for languages in German, French and Russian to become a foreign correspondent in Biafra (in Nigeria),' Lloyd explained in announcing Forsyth's death. 'Appalled at what he saw and using his experience during a stint as a secret service agent, he wrote his first and perhaps most famous novel, The Day Of The Jackal ,' he added. A sequel to The Odessa File , entitled Revenge Of Odessa , which he co-wrote with Tony Kent, is due to be published in August, his publisher Bill Scott-Kerr said. 'His journalistic background brought a rigour and a metronomic efficiency to his working practice and his nose for and understanding of a great story kept his novels both thrillingly contemporary and fresh,' Scott-Kerr added. Forsyth had two sons by his first wife. His second wife, Sandy, died last year. DW
Observer
02-06-2025
- Observer
Van Gogh Museum features African artist for first time
Expressive brushstrokes depict a man seated at a table, his face hidden behind a book of Japanese prints, a plastic chair in the corner, and a Nigerian passport lying on the table. It is one of 10 new paintings by Nigerian artist John Madu, created for "Paint Your Path" -- the first solo exhibition by an African artist at Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum, which opened Friday. Madu, 42, produced the 10 works in just three months in his Lagos studio, each responding to one of seven paintings by the Dutch master. "Before I even knew who Van Gogh was, I knew about his work," said the artist, recalling how as a child he admired his father's calendars filled with Impressionist art. "Van Gogh's works actually stuck out to me because of the yellows, the swirls, the strokes," he told AFP. Madu plays on the global familiarity of Van Gogh's work to build connections between local and universal themes, notably through self-portraiture and the use of symbols. Van Gogh's famous wooden chair is reimagined by Madu as a white plastic seat -- sometimes the main subject, sometimes carried on the shoulder of a protagonist resembling the artist entering a cafe in France's Provence region with a yellow facade. "So I feel the world of Van Gogh plays out for people to relate to you," he said. "I really wanted to pay homage to this master I really love. "So I thought for it to blend perfectly, the strokes, the brush strokes, the colour theme should connect together. "That would make the works actually feel like one." This is not Madu's first dialogue with Western art -- his previous works have drawn inspiration from Gustav Klimt, Edward Hopper and Norman Rockwell. These references resonated with the "Beeldbrekers" ("Image Breakers"), a group of young adults who co-commissioned the exhibition with the goal of making the Van Gogh Museum more inclusive -- both in its exhibitions and outreach. "For me, especially, it's a kind of representation to see an African artist being represented in a museum like this," said Himaya Ayo, a 22-year-old member of the Beeldbrekers. "So, when I heard that, I immediately signed up for it, and now I get to take part in this amazing, but also very historical moment." —AFP
