Baroque Art Exhibitions at The Met
17th-century Paintings, Drawings and Tapestries in NY This Fall
Three upcoming shows at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art describe the rich artistic heritage of Western Europe during the Seventeenth Century.
In Fall 2007, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art will present three special exhibitions that describe the achievements of Baroque European artists in painting, drawing and tapestry. The shows' simultaneous appearances in one location make for a remarkable event of the art world's upcoming season.
The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (September 18, 2007-January 6, 2008) features the museum's entire collection of 228 Dutch works created between 1600 and 1800, focusing largely on those from Holland's seventeenth-century Golden Age. The Met's permanent galleries allow for some 100 of these works to be on view at any given time. Many of them are rarely seen; others never leave the premises. Coinciding roughly with the 400th anniversary of the birth of Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (1606-1669), the exhibition also celebrates the publication of The Met's first comprehensive two-volume catalogue of its Dutch paintings, written expertly by curator Walter Liedtke.
In addition to Rembrandt, artists represented in the exhibition include Frans Hals (b. after 1580, d. 1666), Gerard ter Borch (1617-1681), Aelbert Cuyp (1620-1691), Jacob van Ruisdael (1628/29-1682), Pieter de Hooch (1629-1684) and Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675). Genre pictures, historical and biblical subjects, landscapes, marine views, portraits and still lifes abound in this presentation. The works will be arranged mostly in order of their acquisition to illustrate the collection's history, trace America's taste for Dutch painting and document the various contributions of curators and collectors.
Drawings and Prints from Holland's Golden Age: Highlights from the Collection (September 18, 2007-January 6, 2008) presents works on paper by some of the artists in the painting exhibition, such as Jacob van Ruisdael, and others by Jacques de Gheyn (1565-1629), Willem Pietersz. Buytewech (1591/92-1624) and Adriaen van Ostade (1610-1684).
Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor is an unparalleled opportunity to examine 40 woven works from more than 15 countries that were produced between 1590 and 1720. They were commissioned by monarchs, noblemen and popes as well as other Catholic and Protestant patrons. Some 25 designs and oil sketches by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), Simon Vouet (1590-1649), Pietro da Cortona (1596-1669) and Charles LeBrun (1619-1690), among others, demonstrate the crucial exchange between artistic giants of the Baroque era and the tapestry industry. Many of the show's wall hangings come from looms in Flemish workshops; others were produced in Florence, Paris and Rome as the art of weaving tapestries spread across Europe from Brussels. The exhibition includes exquisite French masterpieces from the Gobelins and Beauvais manufactories established in the 1660s by Jean Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683), the reforming finance minister of King Louis XIV (r. 1643-1715).
Sources:
- Campbell, Thomas P. (ed.), et al. Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor (exh. cat.). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007.
- Liedtke, Walter. Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007.
- 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.
- Westerman, Mariet. Art & Home: Dutch Interiors in the Age of Rembrandt (exh. cat.). Denver: Denver Art Museum, 2003.
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