family reunion: masterpieces from the dutch golden age

8/9/2019 Family Reunion: Masterpieces from the Dutch Golden Age

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44 | October 2013 | lan magazine


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lan magazine | October 2013 | 45

MASTERPIECES FROM THE DUTCH GOLDEN AGE

BY MARY ELOISE H. LEAKE

FURTHER AFIELD

ust in time for the approaching holiday season, the Frick Collection in New York

is hosting a glorious family reunion later this month. Vermeer, Rembrandt, and

Hals: Masterpieces of Dutch Painting from the Mauritshuiswill reunite Johannes

Vermeers iconic Girl with a Pearl Earring with three of her sister Vermeer works

from the Frick.

Painted with eloquence in 1665, Vermeers luminous Girl became a buzz-worthy

celebrity after a 1999 book by Tracy Chevalier characterized her as a servant in the art-

ists home. In 2003 the subsequent Academy Award-nominated movie, starring Colin

Firth and Scarlett Johansson, kicked the fame of the Girl into the stratosphere. When

you see heralonereigning over the Fricks Oval Gallery, you will be captivated.

The Girl communicates and engages with people, says Emilie Gordenker, director

of the Mauritshuis museum at the Hague, permanent home to the iconic portrait. With

her turned head and slightly parted lips, its as if the radiant maiden has spoken to the

viewer and is awaiting an answer.


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46 | October 2013 | lan magazine

Dutch Golden Agecompositions were

painted for a young

country whose secu-

lar middle class was

growing rapidly...[who]

valued original art andwanted it in their homes

and businesses.

Page 44: Portrait of Jacob Olycan, 1625,

by Frans Hals, oil on canvas,

124.8 cm x 97.5 cm

Page 45: Girl with a Pearl Earring, c. 1665,

by Johannes Vermeer, oil on canvas,

44.5 cm x 39 cm

Both are courtesy the Royal Picture Gallery

Mauritshuis, The Hague

The Frick Collections own Vermeer masterpiecesinclude Officer and Laughing Girl. Beautifully illum-

inated by sunlight from the open window, the girl is

flirting happily with a military man in a red coat. Laugh-

ter was rare in a Vermeer painting.

While many of Vermeers works show serene scenes

of household chores, Mistress and Maid introduces

elements of drama. Who wrote the note that the maid

brings? Why is the mistress shocked? This painting was

museum founder Henry Clay Fricks favorite and thelast work he purchased.

The Masterpiecesexhibit also features the Frick Col-

lections holdings by Rembrandt van Rijn, including his

unusual Self-Portrait and mysterious Polish Rider.

Four more by the versatile artist are on loan, including

his groundbreaking Portrait of an Old Man.

Rembrandt excelled in troniesheadshots that show

exaggerated facial expressions or fanciful costumesbe-

cause of his boundless imagination. His snooty Tronie

of a Man with a Feathered Beret is priceless. From thebeginning to the end of his career, he had an impeccable

range of technique, Gordenker says.

Rembrandts subtle use of light adds a poignant di-

mension to Simeons Song of Praise and Susanna.

In Portrait of an Elderly Man, the artist flings asideconventional portraiture. His subject is cladnot in fine

garmentsbut in rumpled, partially unbuttoned cloth-

ing with even his hat askew. This old man is real, alive.

Though not as well-known today as Vermeer and Rem-

brandt, Frans Hals captured in his portraits the strength

of the sturdy people who helped establish the new Dutch

Republic. The Fricks four Hals works will reunite with

two paintings from the Mauritshuis, exquisite formal

portraits of a handsome husband and wife. Portrait ofJacob Olycan and Portrait of Aletta Hanemans serve

as the perfect foil for Rembrandts Elderly Man. Hals

depicts the newlyweds in elegant period attire. Olycan

is a study in black except for his stiff white ruff and

delicate lace jacket cuffs. Apparel that easily could have

been rendered as drab and boring is lustrous, rich and

patterned.

The subject of Aletta Hanemans is a certified

fashionista. Her ensemble includes a white lace bon-

net which frames her youthful face (she was 20, andOlycan was 30). Hals delicately threads her trendy bod-

ice with sequined flowers and trailing vines of gold

thread. Alettas coat, the style of which indicated her

married status, allowed Hals to continue to play with


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Above: As the Old Sing, So Pipe the Young,

c. 1665, by Jan Steen, oil on canvas, 134 cm

x 163 cm

Opposite, left: Tronie of a Man with a

Feathered Beret, c. 1635, by Rembrandt vanRijn, (detail) oil on panel, 62.5 cm x 47 cm;

and The Old Lacemaker, c. 1655, by Nico-

laes Maes, oil on panel, 37.5 cm x 35 cm

All are courtesy the Royal Picture Gallery

Mauritshuis, The Hague

nuances of black as he had done in Olycan.

While Vermeer, Rembrandt and Hals may be the su-

perstars of this Dutch Golden Age exhibit, visitors will

also be treated to distinctive works by Jan Steen, Carel

Fabritius and others. Steens forte was genre paintingsscenes of everyday life which often revealed the morals

of the time. Steens huge canvas, As the Old Sing, So

Pipe the Young, is peopled with an extended family

celebrating a christening. Painted with bawdy humor,

another Dutch trademark, Steen reveals the drunken

family members carousing. He places a parrot high up

on its perch as a reminder that the children in the scene

will parrot their parents actionsnot their words. The

figure in Girl Eating Oysters, also by Steen, looks out

quite seductively as she salts and nibbles on the oysters.A tiny canvas, it draws the viewer right into its perfectly

composed scene.

Do not miss the perfect, small trompe loeil work

of a common household pet, The Goldfinch, by Rem-

brandt student Carel Fabritius.

Dutch Golden Age compositions were painted for a

young country whose secular middle class was grow-

ing rapidly. For many years, art had been created only

for the church, royalty and nobility. The people of thenew Dutch Republic valued original art and wanted it

in their homes and businesses. So the painters of this

magical period created attainable art, based on com-

mon lives and experiences.

Contemporary art experts estimate that more than

five million paintings were produced in the 17th-cen-

tury Dutch Republic, notes Lynn Federle Orr in the

exhibits catalog.

Visit the Frick to see some of the favorites.

Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Hals: Masterpieces ofDutch Painting from the Mauritshuisopens on October

22 and continues through January 19, 2014.

The Frick Collection | www.frick.org

family reunion: masterpieces from the dutch golden age

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