Hermitage Days-2011
Exhibition-event A New Setting for Dutch Masterpieces

The Winter Palace was home to the opening of an exhibit entitled “A New Setting for Dutch Masterpieces” from the collection of the State Hermitage Museum, which represents a unique aspect of the exposition of Dutch painting from the 17th century, that is, the relationship between painting and the art of framing. It has long been noted that an artistic frame can emphasize or balance the merits of a painting. In many ways, the way we perceive a work of art depends on its material, colour, and modest or splendid form. Since the Renaissance, all celebrated collectors have taken this factor into consideration when assembling galleries. Russia was no exception to this tradition.

According to documentary evidence, many of the Dutch paintings bought by the Empress Catherine the Great arrived in Saint Petersburg from Europe in their original frames. It was in these very frames that they were exhibited in the chambers and galleries of the Hermitage, as early descriptions of the collection indicate. However, it turns out that these frames have not survived to our time. In the middle of the 19th century, many of these frames were sold or destroyed, because they had gone out of fashion and did not fit in with the taste of the era, and the works of the Dutch masters received heavy, gilded frames.

The diversity of forms and materials of artistic frames made in 17th century Holland was huge. Ebony frames were in particularly high demand. Tough, hard African ebony was brought into Europe from exotic countries and valued highly. Many Dutch painters, including Rembrandt, often used the motif of an illusionary black frame in their paintings, which enclosed the narrative composition.

The custodians and artist/restorers of the State Hermitage Museum, with the cooperation of the Friends of the Hermitage Club, and the Wilhelmina E. Jansen Foundation of the Netherlands, created a project thanks to which several Dutch paintings are now being exhibited in masterfully crafted replicas that accurately reproduce their 17th century frames. Although they are modest at first glance, these highly refined settings emphasize the depth and colouristic richness of the art of painting, turning each picture into a “mirror of nature.”

The place of honour in this exhibit is held by the painting entitled “Farm,” created in 1656 by two painters: Jan Wijnants (who painted the landscape) and Dirck Wijntrack, who painted the images of the birds; the painting is marked with the signatures and monograms of both artists. The narrow specialization of Dutch artists led to many of them collaborating to produce a single work of art. The delightful diversity of landscape motifs, astuteness of interpretation, and rare mastery of details give this piece, which is being presented to viewers for the first time, a unique aspect all its own.

The majority of the paintings on display at this exhibit make it possible to get a particularly acute sense of the loveliness of rural Holland. The views of parks, cattle browsing in their meadows, a colourful poultry yard, hunting in the wild, and hunting trophies in park avenues - all of these are traditional images of Holland. Even Cornelis Saftleven’s “Argus and Io” turns a classical myth into a pastoral scene, full of curious everyday details. The Dutch masters had no equals when it came to capturing the life they saw around them, and they have long since won glory as exceptionally observant artists.

The curator of this exhibit is I.A. Sokolova, senior researcher of the Department of Western European Fine Art at the State Hermitage Museum, and a doctor of Cultural Studies.

Gregor Simoons, Esther Poelen, Nico Cobelens and Irina Sokolova

Kees ter Horst

Paintings in the new frames

M.B. Piotrovsky presents the project of the Dutch Friends of the Hermitage

At the ceremony of the opening

At the exibition