Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Hals: Masterpieces from the Mauritshuis
Frick Collection, New York, October 22nd to January 19th
The Frick loves to home in on a distant museum and bring its treasures over to be enjoyed by busy New Yorkers. Its next target is the Mauritshuis in The Hague, which has some of the best pictures from the Dutch golden age. Don’t expect a blockbuster: with only 15 works on display, this is a peek into history.
The Dutch and Flemish masters painted with great technical refinement and rare sophistication. “Simeon’s Song of Praise’, 1631, by Rembrandt, is a supreme case in point, with a compositional clarity and sense of balance and order that is typical of the time. Simeon, Jesus, Mary and Joseph are bathed in a pool of light, luminous against the still, shadowy background. There is an unearthly silence.
Dutch art tends to be quiet, atmospheric, accurate, never showy. “Woman Writing a Letter” (detail above), c.1655, by Gerard ter Borch reveals another private moment. A young woman with well-kept hair and milky skin sits at her desk, fully immersed. The light is carefully controlled and the pinkish tones are soft—ter Borch was a master colourist. The painting is small, but it draws you in. It would be wrong not to mention the world-famous “Girl with a Pearl Earring”, c.1665, by Vermeer, the only work to be given its own space here. But special treatment can be a slippery slope and there are plenty of contenders capable of pinching the girl’s limelight.
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