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Published: March 24th 2018
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Rembrandt van Rijn
Bust of a man in oriental dress 1635 I could have been Dutch but they didn't want me.
The first Europeans to discover Australia but only for accidental visits.
Willem Jantz mapped northern Queensland in the Duyfken in 1603 but not welcomed by aborigines and left.
Dirk Hartog left a pewter plate on an island off Western Australia in 1616 that he named New Holland.
Abel Tasman missed mainland Oz completely in 1642 and hit Tasmania, called it Van Dieman's land and then discovered New Zealand.
Took Englishman James Cook in 1770 to recognise New Zealand are islands and sailing up the east coast of Oz to realise he had found the fabled Southern Land.
With Cook was Joseph Banks the botanist whose drawings of unique flora and fauna captured English imaginations...Terra Australis as a tourist destination thus born.
So the English in 1788 decided to empty their prisons to settle their riff-raff here.
Certainly caused a stir when they tried to wipe out the indigenous Aborigines that had inhabited our vast land for millenia.
Wonder what the Dutch would have done if they had settled here first.
From what I have seen of their art works it may
Wallerant Vaillant
"Portrait of Maria van Oosterwijck, Flower Painter" 1671 have led to an Oz Dutch Golden Age.
And I could have been named Dutchy...instead of Dancer...after all.
******
I didn't dream this in a drinking binge...nor in a musical orbital odyssey.
Denise and I entered the sandstone Gothic or is it Byzantine or otherwise...the building standing like a Grecian temple overlooking the green mown grass and ficus expanse of the parklands of The Domain known as Sydney Art Gallery...immersing ourselves in an exhibition drawn from the Rijksmuseum, the renowned national collection of the Netherlands.
The Exhibition of "The Dutch Masters - Rembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age" it was called
. Transfixed on occasion...enthralled...entranced...captivated...transported into 17th Century landscapes and homes...gawking at fine hair on heads so intricately brushed...like a fly on drawing room walls or as if an adoring dog or cat scratching at the feet of painted subjects.
This exhibition includes paintings by most artists I have never heard of...paintings that made me gasp and gawk:
Jan de Bray - "Governors of the Guild of St Thomas" 1675 and "Judith and Holofernes" 1659
Ferdinand Bol - "Portrait of a Man" 1663
Jacob Backer "Portrait of
Ferdinand Bol
"Portrait of a man" 1663 Johannes Lutma Silversmith in Amsterdam" 1646, "Portrait of Sara de Bie, wife of Janus Lutma"
Frans Hals - "Portrait of Lucas de Clerq" 1635 and "Portrait of Feyntje van Steenkiste, wife of Lucas de Clerq" 1635
Wallerant Vaillant - "Portrait of Maria van Oosterwijck, Flower Painter" 1671
Loderwijk van de Helst - "Portrait of William van de Velderthe the Younger" 1670
Willem van der Velderthe the Elder - "The Four Days Naval Battle" 1666 (Dutch v English)
Govert Flinck - "Portrait of Gerard Pietersz Hulft of Dutch East India Company" 1654
Ludolf Bakhulzen - "Warship in a Heavy Storm" 1695 and "Mussel Pier" 1673
Aelbert Cuyp - "The Roads of Batavia" 1640-60
Andries Beeckman - "The Castle of Batavia" 1661-62
Paulus Potter - "Two Horses near a Gate" 1649 and "Three Cows"
Adam Pynacker - "Landscape with Enraged Ox" 1665-70
Jan van Goyen - "View of a Village on a River" 1645
Hendrick Martinez Sorgh - "The Vegetable Market" 1664
Jan Steen - "The Merry Homecoming" 1670-79 and "Fairy Scene" 1670
Quirinsh van Brekeelenkam - "Tailor Warship" 1661
Egbert Lievensz van Pool - "Explosion of
Loderwijk van de Helst
"Portrait of William van de Velderthe the Younger" 1670 the Powder Magazine in Delpht" 1654
Jan Abrahamsz Beerstraten - "View of the Church of Sloten in Winter" 1663
Judith Leyster - "The Jolly Drinker" 1629
Arys de Vois - "The Merry Fiddler" 1660-80
Jacob Ocherveldt - "The Players" 1660-70
Johannes Vermeer - "Woman Reading a Letter" 1663
Gerard Dou - "Old Woman Reading" 1631
Nicholas Maes - "The Daydreamer" 1653-55 and "Young woman and a Cradle" 1655
Richard Bakenburgh - "The Feast of St Nicholas" 1685
Melchior de Hondecoeter - "Birds in a Park" 1686
Jan Davidsz de Heem- "Still life with Books" 1628 and "Still life with flowers in a glass vase" 1665-70
Gabriel Metsu - "The herring-seller" 1656-58
Aert vandeer Neer - "River view in winter" 1655-60
Jan van de Capelle - "Winter Scene" 1652-53
Frans Jansz Post - "Brazilian landscape with village of Igaracu" 1659
Karel Dujardin - "Self Portrait" 1662 and "Italianate landscape with shepherd and peasant woman" 1659
Pieter Claesz - "Vanitas still life with the Spinario" 1628
Aelbert Jansz van der Schoor - "Venitas Still Life" 1660-65
Abraham Mignon - "Still life with fruit, oysters
Frans Hals
"Portrait of Feyntje van Steenkiste, wife of Lucas de Clerq" 1635 and a porcelain bowl" 1660-70
Pieter de Ring - "Still life with a gold goblet" 1650-70
Rachel Ruysch - "Still life with flowers on a marble top" 1716
Jan Weenix - "A hare and other game" 1697
Paulus Bor - "Cydippe with apple of Acontius" 1645-55
Arnold Hoebraken - "The sacrifice of Ipigenia" 1690-1700
Hendrick ter Brugghen - "Adoration of the Magi" 1619
and Pieter de Hooch
and a room dedicated to one of the greatest minds in the history of art
Rembrandt van Rijn.
"Samson and Delilah" 1626-30,
"The denial of St Peter" 1660
"Portrait of Dr Ephraim Bueno" 1646-47,
"Still life with Peacocks" 1639,
"Bust of a man on Oriental Dress" 1635,
"Self Portrait as the Apostle Paul" 1661,
"Two old men disputing" 1628,
"The Three Crosses" 1653,
"Christ presented to the people" 1655,
"Christ preaching (the hundred guilder print) 1648,
"Abraham sacrificing Isaac" 1648,
"Nude man seated before a curtain" 1646,
"Portrait of Johannes Lutma, Silversmith in Amsterdam" 1659,
"Self Portrait in a soft hat and patterned coat" 1639,
"Portrait of
Gerard Dou
"Old Woman Reading" 1631 Jan Six" 1647,
"The beheading of John the Baptist" 1640-50.
The opening credits tell us the Dutch Masters - Rembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age "presents a richly unfolding panorama of Dutch society during an era of unparalleled wealth, power and cultural confidence.
In the Dutch golden age, the art of painting flourished like never before.
Artists sensitively observed the beauty of the visible world, transforming it, with great skill, into vivid and compelling paintings.
Their subjects ranged from intense portraits and dramatic seascapes to tranquil scenes of domestic life and careful studies of fruit and flowers.
Part of the Sydney International Art Series, bringing the world’s most outstanding exhibitions to Australia, exclusively to Sydney."
******
I dream of our daughter currently living in Amsterdam...about to move to the Hague to participate in a terrorist trial.
But how to get there from Oz...to give her a hand ?
Maybe we should visit Ballyshannon in Ireland first...for the Rory Gallagher Festival...embracing the statue of my blues music mentor that stands there.
T'was Jimi Hendrix that was asked, "How does it feel to be the greatest guitarist
Johannes Vermeer
"Woman Reading a Letter" 1663 in the World?"
To which Jimi replied, "I don't know. You'd better ask Rory Gallagher."
Yep...sounds like a plan.
After all I did see Rory twice in his lifetime...introduced Denise to him whereupon she agreed to marry me.
Mmmmm
Then we could swim the English Channel to the Netherlands...on a map does not look far.
Or if its cold maybe row across.
Visit our daughter...and spy on her Dutch boyfriend we should be keeping an eye on.
Any excuse to visit the Rijksmuseum...to gaze at the works of the Dutch Masters in their home.
What if the Dutch had conquered Australia?
Maybe with this exhibition they now have done so.
Maybe...just maybe...I should be Dutch after all.
Relax & Enjoy,
Dancing Dave
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Katha Turbostern
Kathas World
Amazing pieces of art and thanks for the history lesson!
If I were around I would certainly go and see the exhibition, especially Rembrandt, incredible how he was able to play with light and shade. And in fact it would be interesting what it would have been like had the Dutch conquered Australia. Thanks for the brief outline of Australian/Dutch/British history here! I have to say that the prisoners from England turned into a really friendly people, I always love coming to Oz, especially for the Aussies.