Past Exhibitions

Designing the Natural World through Dutch Eyes

21 March–30 July 2006

The art and culture of the Netherlands has long held great appeal for people around the world. It holds particular fascination for Americans, whose own struggles around national identity have played out similarly in art, music, and literature. GoDutch!, a region-wide celebration of Dutch culture spearheaded by Museums10, provides the perfect opportunity to explore these connections.

By happy coincidence, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum has just acquired two unusual and exciting Dutch paintings: Portrait of a Gentleman by Johannes Cornelisz. Verspronck and Joseph Interpreting the Dreams of Pharaoh’s Butler and Baker by Crijn Hendricksz. Volmarijn. These mid-17th-century oil paintings will be available for public viewing for the first time on March 21.

Verspronck’s portrait of an expressly unadorned Dutch gentleman reflects the great sobriety of the Dutch reform movement. Rather than representing his subject surrounded by the trappings of his material success (as was the fashion among many other portraitists at the time), Verspronck used tight strokes, tight framing, and an utterly plain background to foreground his subject’s interior life.

The three figures of Volmarijn’s Joseph Interpreting the Dreams of Pharaoh’s Butler and Baker appear lit from within. They glow like lanterns against the inky shadows of the Pharaoh’s prison. The highly theatrical work is a perfect example of the international Caravaggesque style, both for its dramatic, selective illumination, and for its down-to-earth portrayal of a religious narrative.

The Verspronck and Volmarijn paintings complement other important Dutch works of art from the Art Museum’s permanent collection, including 17th-century landscapes by Jan van Goyen, Jan Both, and Willem de Heusch. Also not to be missed: Hendrick Andriessen’s stunning vanitas still-life.

Museum visitors who fill out a visitor’s survey will receive a postcard or a magnet-sized reproduction of Volmarijn’s painting. Young visitors (including visitors who are young at heart) may participate in any of the Museum’s ongoing "Through Dutch Eyes" family activities, which will include a self-directed scavenger hunt and still life drawing.

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