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The Juxtaposition of the Domestic with the Exotic
This fall and winter, the Kimbell presents a new exhibition of paintings by Dutch masters from a time when Dutch merchants sailed over the horizon to bring spices, silks, and other luxury goods back to Europe. Dutch Art in a Global Age: Masterpieces from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston showcases paintings by Rembrandt, Ruisdael, Shalcken, Hals, and others, as well as maps, silver, and porcelain.
Left: Rembrandt, Portrait of Aeltje Uylenburgh, 1632, oil
on panel, 29 x 21 15/16 in. (73.7 x 55.8 cm).
Promised gift of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo,
in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art.
Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Right: Frans Hals, Portrait of Cunera van Baersdorp (1600-1640),
1625, oil on canvas, 116.7 x 91.5 cm (46 x 36 in.).
Promised gift of Susan and Matthew Weatherbie, in
support of the Center for Netherlandish Art. Photograph
© Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
[Author’s enthusiastic digression: Frans Hals is, without a doubt, my favorite artist ever. Ever. As an art history nerd, this is saying quite a bit. His career spanned almost five decades, and his command of light is almost unrivaled. While his works fell out of favor for nearly two centuries after his death, his mastery of the visible brushstroke, a revolution in painting in a time when patrons wanted smooth, invisible strokes, intrigued and inspired 19th– and 20th-century painters like Monet, Whistler, Manet, Courbet, and van Gogh. But back to the article!]
The movement of goods around the globe by the Dutch East India Company sparked an artistic surge back home as more people were able to afford art for the first time. Many still-life paintings feature exotic items from far-flung locales and were possibly the first example of conspicuous consumption.
Adriaen van Hoecke, Layette Basket, 1666–67,
silver, 72 x 42.1 x 12.8 cm (28 3/8 x 16 9/16 x 5
1/16 in.), John H. and Ernestine A. Payne Fund.
Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Many of the still-life paintings in the exhibition have a sort of “I Spy” quality. Scenes of everyday items may contain exotic insects or curious seashells brought back from trading missions. Scenes of daily life are depicted with an intricacy and a pride that show the viewer exactly what life was like for the Dutch middle class. Dutch artists also produced ceramics and silver for export that traveled the world.
Of course, globalization didn’t come without its downsides. While the exploration by the Dutch East India Company and other Europeans is impressive, it came at a human cost. The Dutch East India Company did not start the slave trade, but they profited from it, and the exhibition acknowledges the complex history of colonialization, wealth disparity, and the pain and suffering of human beings.
Dutch Art in a Global Age: Masterpieces from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is on exhibit at the Kimbell through February 9, 2025.
Jan Davidsz de Heem, Still Life with Fruits, Pie, and
Silver and Silver-gilt Tazze, 1653. 47.6 x 61.6 cm (18
¾ x 24 ¼ in.). Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston
