17th Century Dutch Paintings - Part 4 :Masterpieces from Mount Stuart - The Bute Collection and National Galleries of Scotland

The gallery on the Mound in Edinburgh has a collection of Dutch masterpieces including Rembrandt and Franz Hals.  I can remember the Mound Collection from my childhood; and the Skating Minister by Naysmith and Titian’s Three Ages of Man are pictures I can remember when at school. 

I had heard about the Mount Stuart collection of the Marquis of Bute and about the exhibition from some publicity and when visiting the Lusieri exhibition a guard mentioned the Masterpieces from Mount Stuart.   (http://www.nationalgalleries.org/whatson/368/masterpieces-from-mount-stuart)  I decided on 24^th August 2012 to go on my own. 

I checked in at the information desk and was taken to the octagon shaped gallery (3, I think) and started my tour.  I tried out my knowledge of the Jan Steen genre painting on the staff member but it was not a Steen.  The first painting which I thought was a Jan Steen turned out to be by another artist. 

The staff member told me about the exhibition and had been quite envious of the colleagues who had been to Mount Stuart on the Isle of Bute (Rothesay)  in gathering the pictures. (http://www.mountstuart.com/)  I did manage to get the curatorial gossip on the collection.  I checked where the other 17^th Century pictures were and was given instructions on where they were located. 

I worked my way round the room and was faced with something very familiar.  It was a view of the Great Kirk in Haarlem by Gerrit Berckheyde.  We had studied one like it in the National Gallery in London.( http://profwhitestick.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/17th-century-dutch-paintings-golden-age.html )  That picture had set me off on my discovery of these paintings which have so much to offer in terms of clarity, colour and narrative. 

I moved round the room and spotted two Albert Cuyps.  For verification I asked complete strangers to read out the picture labels and so far it had been one wrong and 3 correct.  My fifth guess of a possible artist was wrong and I decided to get the catalogue and come back again with some background. 

On my second visit, I managed to get details of the paintings which I found interesting.  These included:

The Disputed Reckoning by Pieter de Hooch (I recognised this through the chequered tiled floor.)

The Grote Markt and the Church of St Bavo in Haarlem by Gerrit A Berckheyde

A Horse, Cattle and a Cowherd Resting in a Landscape by Albert Cuyp

Cattle Wattering by Estuary by Albert Cuyp

A  Young Girl Holding a Basket of Cherries by Jacob Jordaens

Frozen River Landscape by Aert van der Neer

Mountain Landscape with Waterfall by Jacob Isaacksz van Ruisdael

Cavalier Playing a Lute to a Lady by Jan Steen

The Card Players by David Teniers the Younger

I checked the whereabouts of the regular collection and went round the rooms “spotting” another Cuyp guessing the Rembrandts and Franz Hals and spotting a Van der Heyden.  On returning to have another quick look at the Mount Stuart collection the guard asked me how I had got on. 

I had probably overdone my enthusiasm for Cuyp, so he offered to take me round the collection pausing in front of the Rembrandt. We went on to discuss the Cuyp Nijmegen painting and I was given a detailed description of the people and objects.  In passing the guard mentioned another picture which had been acquired for the collection. 

I was able on my 2^nd visit to pick out some pictures which I liked and get a sighted friend to note the labels, as follows: 

Pictures from the Permanent Collection:

Saloman Van Ruysdael

Alkmaar in Winder, 1656

Oil on canvas

NG2799

Hendrick Ten Oever

View of Zublle with Bathers, 1675

Oil on canvas

Meindert Hobbema

Wooded Landscape

NG2377

Hendrick  Van Minderhout

An Engagement between English and Dutch Fleets (c1665)

In the 19^th century this was erroneously attributed to Willem van de Velde the Younger and titled A Sea Fight

Albert Cuyp

Landscape with view of the Valkhof, Nijmegen

NG2314

Jan van der Heyden

A View of Cologne with the Carthusian Church and St Pataleon, c1660-1665

Adam Pynacker

The Stone Bridge

On my solo visit I managed to buy the catalogue titled Masterpieces from Mount Stuart – The Bute Collection by Christian Tico Seifert.  This has an introduction by Anthony Crichton-Stuart (one of the Bute family).  I also bought a set of cards of a painting by Hendrick Avercamp titled Winter Landscape.  On a further visit to stock up on presents, we found the elusive postcard of Pitlessie Fair. (http://www.nationalgalleries.org/collection/artists-a-z/W/6004/artist_name/Sir%20David%20Wilkie/record_id/2431)

Many thanks to the Mound staff for locating and reading out some of the labels and discussing some of the highlights.  The shop staff were also helpful in finding some items.

If in Edinburgh, make a point of visiting the Torrie Collection which is in the Georgian gallery of the Talbot Rice Gallery within the University of Edinburgh Old College.  I covered this in Part 2 of my Dutch painting series: http://profwhitestick.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/dutch-paintings-part-2-torrie.html

17th Century Dutch Painting - Part 3: National Gallery, London

5th July 2012

This is my third post on 17th Century Dutch Paintings- The Golden Age. The first described the pictures, artists (variable spelling of names) historical background and their suitability for some visually impaired people.  As there are many fine collections, it also introduced the newly refurbished galleries at the Wallace Collection and the National Gallery collection in person and online trails.  ( http://profwhitestick.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/17th-century-dutch-paintings-golden-age.html )

My second piece centred on the Torrie Collection in the Talbot Rice Gallery of the University of Edinburgh. ( http://profwhitestick.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/dutch-paintings-part-2-torrie.html )

I had missed the National Gallery ‘Art through Words’ in June and wanted to pay a visit before the Olympics made some trips difficult.  On arrival, I enquired at the information desk in the Sainsbury Wing and Nicola asked if I could use Braille or large print (I can’t) and then took me to the galleries where the 17th Century Dutch Paintings are. 

The National Gallery has a large collection of Dutch paintings, and as there is no “double hanging” the collection extends through several rooms.  Also, as there are small pictures and quite large ones, an individual artist’s work – such as Cuyp, Jan Steen or even Vermeer – is not exhibited all together in one room. 

Nicola suggested that she wrote down the NG number of a painting that I liked and that that reference would allow me to track the details.  Nicola also kept a separate note of the numbers saying that the information desk could print out the panel notes in large format or that, in my case, they could be sent in a text file by email.  (These notes were sent within 2 working days.)

Using a search engine and typing National Gallery NG Number the first result takes you normally into the picture with its dates and information.

Gerard ter Borch

Portrait of a young man
NG1399

For example I typed National Gallery NG1399 and the full length portrait of a sombre clothed man in almost black diamond shape appears. This proves that with some help in noting the NG number and then getting someone to type it up, it is possible to use this information to undertake a search yourself.  Searching without this number will depend on your searching history and getting the artist’s name right.

The following are some of the paintings that I was particularly struck by during my visit:

Room 21 text panel

Figures in an Italian Garden with Fountains and Statuary

Frederik de Moucheron
NG842

The notes suggest that Adriaen van de Velde painted the figures in this imagined Italian landscape.  I had been discussing the van de Veldes with Nicola and mentioned that two of this talented family who worked in London were buried in the churchyard of St James Piccadilly (I had just eaten a sandwich and had a coffee there.)

River landscape with Horseman and Peasants

Albert Cuyp
NG6522

The large painting of the peasants with cows has a lot of stories within it and Nicola was able to help me find one: a hunter crouching in the bottom left hand corner; I could make out a line of a gun as he was taking aim, but I could not make out his dog.  This is a beautiful painting, though has a cordon around it. 

 

Avenue of Middelharnis

Meindert Hobbema
NG830

This avenue of trees is a popular theme in Dutch paintings and this one is no exception.  Sometimes the Italianate influence can make some perspective lines appear odd and though I like this, I still think that the Cuyp avenue in Dordrecht has more appeal. 

A Dutch Yacht and Other Vessels Becalmed near the Shore

Hendrick Dubbels
NG2587

This picture caught my eye with the ships or boats in full sail but becalmed.  The masts and the pattern of the sails appealed to my peripheral vision so I asked Nicola to make a note of the number.  The search took me into a NG inventory page with a lot of information and I had to go back to another level to check all the details.  A warning: doing too many searches on some paintings makes a prediction search seek some other items.

Haarlem Lock

Meindert Hobbema
NG6138

This shows a typical canal lock with a herring packer’s tower, though according to the National Gallery site the buildings are no longer extant.  Apparently this is the only scene of Amsterdam by the artist who lived in the area.  Key facts on the site give more links to details of the painting. 

A River Scene with a Large Ferry and Numerous Dutch Vessels at Anchor

Jan van de Cappelle
NG967

A seascape with a ferry boat and other boats with Dutch flags, this was another picture that caught my eye.

Dutch Vessels Inshore and Men Bathing

Willem van de Velde
NG871

Landscape in Brazil

Frans Post
L39

This was a surprise as one forgets the enormous trading post network the Dutch, with their fleet, had established around the world. 

View of the Westerkerk, Amsterdam

Jan van der Heyden
NG6526

I had noted Jan van der Heyden in the Wallace Collection and I “recognised” the Westerkerk in Amsterdam.  Nicola commented on the detailed drawing of the cobblestones and this was similar to the brickwork detail that Jackie had described to me when looking at other pictures by van der Heyden.

Albert Cuyp

The Small Dort, NG962
The Maas at Dordrecht in a Storm, NG6405
The Large Dort, NG961

At this point I was beginning to show symptoms of a Cuyp overdose and it was delightful.  There are a lot of views of Dordrecht.   

Vermeer

The National Gallery is planning a ‘Vermeer and Musical Instrument’ exhibition for next year and it will include the Lady with Guitar.  I was mentioning this news which I had picked up on Twitter, when Nicola said “We have the lady here on show now.”  Kenwood is being refurbished and though a Rembrandt from Kenwood has gone on tour, the Iveagh Bequest restricts the Lady with the Guitar from ‘travelling’.  The picture is one of my favourites and though I missed the exhibition at the Fitzwilliam in Cambridge, I was able to view the other Vermeers such as Lady seated at a Virginal (NG2568) and Lady standing by a Virginal (NG1383).

Cattle and Sheep in a Stormy Landscape

Paulus Potter
NG2583

One of my friends prefers Paulus Potter to Albert Cuyp.  My thoughts on this cattle and sheep in a storm was that the bovine beast resembled more another species, as I thought one had the appearance of a Highland Stag. 

A Farm with a Dead Tree

Adriaen van de Velde
NG867

I was attracted by the dead tree against the skyline.  Adriaen was famous for drawing figures and anatomical bits of pictures and his work is noted in many pictures with a leading name doing the landscape.

We went through some beautiful Albert Cuyp pictures.  I had been given a book on the NG collection and had bought the Albert Cuyp Catalogue following an exhibition in London and USA.  Whenever I mention Albert Cuyp to friends who are interested in Dutch pictures, they almost always say “Ah Cuyp, the cow man!”  While it is true that Cuyp painted cows he did cover other subjects.    

On our way back to the Sainsbury Wing Nicola mentioned that the Titian exhibition was starting on July 11 and it might be an idea to get there sooner than later.  This is free and downstairs.

Many thanks to Nicola for taking me round the collection.  With her help I was also able to remember many more pictures by using the NG number.  Talks and tours on Dutch pictures are also tweeted on the NG twitter feeds and texts can be downloaded using this method. 

I have found the National Gallery website to be straightforward in its own right by just searching through a search engine.  Knowing a few names, it is possible to locate a given painting.  I was also able to catch up on paintings which I would normally have picked up in an Art through Words session. I also have the picture labels (panel notes) which Nicola sent me by email. 

An example of the picture label for the Albert Cuyp reads very well in a screenreader and the National Gallery separated the labels with an underline.  This makes it easier for me to merge it like this:

Albert Cuyp (1620–1691)

River Landscape with Horseman
and Peasants, about 1658–60

This is Aelbert Cuyp’s largest surviving

landscape. The scene is inspired by
the landscape along the Rhine near
Nijmegen, in the eastern Netherlands.
Cuyp travelled to the area many times.

The golden sunlight is observed from
the work of contemporaries, such as
Jan Both, who had travelled in Italy.

Oil on canvas

NG6522. Bought with the assistance of the
National Heritage Memorial Fund and
The Art Fund, 1989

These provide a neat description of the work and it is now possible for me to form my own gallery notes and tag it to the right painting.  (This is a challenge but makes one work to fix an image in the mind) It would be possible to read a bar code and listen to a synthetic voice read it out, but where is the interaction in that? 

This shows that a few paintings one enjoys can be enjoyed later on with a record of the visit, thoughts at the time and some cross checking from the gallery.  Another really good and imaginative way in sharing the pictures to the visually impaired community. 

Books recently acquired on 17th century Dutch pictures:

Rembrandt 1892 by John Ingamells (The Trustees of the Wallace Collection, London)

Jan Steen (1626-1679) by Wouter Kloek (Waanders Publishers, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)
Dutch Painting: The National Gallery (National Gallery, London)

PS

Metamorphosis: Titian 2012
A unique collaboration with The Royal Ballet
11 July - 23 September 2012
Admission Free
 
Find out more:
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/metamorphosis-titian-2012

Dutch Paintings Part 2: Torrie Collection, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh

Dutch Paintings from the 17^th Century have proved to be interesting.  The pictures are not large but are still attractive to collectors.  Many museums, national art galleries and institutions have collections of Dutch Paintings.  One such collection is the Torrie Collection which is held by the University of Edinburgh. 

I was at the Talbot Rice Gallery several times last summer and went round the Torrie Collection, once on my own and once with a friend, who read out the captions from a catalogue.  My first visit to the Torrie collection was around the time of my visit to Surgeons’ Hall in Edinburgh and it was Jan Steen’s “Doctor Visit” which made me recall it.  Harbour scenes with ships and boats seemed familiar as did the painter William van de Veld. 

Landscapes with trees and perspective lines seemed to be 200 years in advance of the Corot paintings I had liked in 1975 and had viewed again recently at the National Gallery in London.  Some Dutch painters had gone to Italy and had developed in ways similar to Claude Lorraine. A few had returned to the Netherlands and influenced local painters while others continued in their own styles.

Following the topic of Dutch Pictures has led me to many other collections and The Zoffany’s picture of Lawrence Dundas around his pictures allowed a little detective work on the internet in matching some of the painter names (difficult) with recurring themes in landscape and genre painting.   I ordered some books on the internet and during my stay in hospital a friend read out extracts from two: a catalogue of Albert Cuyp pictures and drawings; and an introduction to Dutch Landscapes in the Royal Collection by Desmond Shawe-Taylor (with contributions by Jennifer Scott). 

The following quote from the latter is particularly noteworthy.  Shawe-Taylor talks about the process of cleaning and restoring a painting and in doing so draws parallels with the intellectual process of appreciating these paintings.  Thus:

“The understanding of painting can require a similar process.  Over the years the habitual way of thinking about the art of a particular period can start to obscure and discolour the works themselves; sometimes sincerely held ideas can overlay the truth with plausible anachronisms.  The process of intellectual restoration is as fraught with difficulties as that of real restoration; the ‘original experience of a work’ can seem as elusive a concept as the ‘original appearance of a work’.”

It has also been fun searching discussions of Dutch Paintings on You Tube and I have learned at least how the You Tube system works.  I could not resist tweeting out a link to a video of a restoration completed in the Mauritshuis in the Hague in Netherlands of a Jan Steen painting titled The Doctor’s Visit. (see below)

Having been in contact with Talbot Rice Gallery since last year I asked them about the Torrie Collection and while I was in hospital they very kindly sent me images of the paintings which I liked. I would have visited the gallery during the Easter period though my impending hip operation put all travel from London on hold. 

716 Jan van der Heyden - Wooded Park Landscape With Deer

By kind permission of "The University of Edinburgh
Fine Art Collection".

Jan van der Heyden was born in 1637 and died in 1712.  He was particularly noted for town scenes, but also painted landscapes such as this one. 

738 Jan Steen - The Doctor's Visit

By kind permission of "The University of Edinburgh
Fine Art Collection".

Jan Steen was born in Leiden around 1626 and died in 1679.  Steen painted many comic subjects, though there is frequently a moral content to the scene.  The Doctor’s Visit was painted several times and the restoration of the painting in the Mauritshuis in The Hague can be found on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3utdGnQ9RnY

Although the video is in Dutch, it is sub-titled (but I can’t read them, of course) and there are quite a lot of scientific terms which are recognisable, such as infrared and ultraviolet.  The video, however, does show the process of restoring a painting and illustrates the important part which chemistry and spectroscopy plays in picture restoration.  I can’t detect any difference between the restored and unrestored images from the Torrie collection and on You Tube, the trained eye may well discover the benefits of the removal of previous restorations and newer ways of interpreting the artist’s original work - although, bearing Desmond Shawe-Taylor's statement quoted above, some care has to be taken in the interpretation of the thoughts of the artist when the work or works were commissioned.

739 David Teniers the Younger - Peasants Playing Bowls

By kind permission of "The University of Edinburgh
Fine Art Collection".

David Teniers the Younger was born 1610 and died 1690.  Sports and pastimes often feature in Dutch paintings and I was attracted to this painting of people bowling in the street as it reminded me of a craze in the 1960s for 10-pin bowling!  For some reason Edinburgh did not indulge in 10-pin bowling, though both Kirkcaldy (birthplace of Adam Smith) and Glenrothes (then a new town) had 10-pin bowling. 

744 William van de Velde - Fishing Boats in a Calm

By kind permission of "The University of Edinburgh
Fine Art Collection".

William van de Velde the younger was born 1633 and died in 1707.  He followed in his father’s footsteps in having an interest in painting marine scenes.  There are many paintings with ships in full sail, in various weather conditions.  Both father and son worked in London in Greenwich and are buried in St James’s, Piccadilly.  My father’s family had a couple of paintings of sailing ships which were probably done in the 19^th century based on the harbour at Charlestown, near Dunfermline.  An ancestor of mine had been the harbour master there.

Also of interest is another You Tube video in which Desmond Shawe-Taylor discusses Aelbert Cuyp’s The Passage Boat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyRuylhzzVs

In preparing this post, I’d like to thank Shawn Coulman, Marketing and Education Assistant and Jill Forrest, Museums Support Officer both at the Talbot Rice Gallery. 

Details for the Gallery are:

Talbot Rice Gallery
The University of Edinburgh
Old College, South Bridge
Edinburgh
EH8 9YL

+44 (0)131 651 4784www.trg.ed.ac.uk
facebook.com/talbotricegallery

The Talbot Rice Gallery is situated in the Old College of the University of Edinburgh and as well as housing the Torrie Collection there are frequent exhibitions and events.  The gallery is very welcoming and it was a member of the staff and a volunteer who alerted me to the Artlink project which I discussed last year.  I look forward to meeting up with both Talbot Rice and Art Link during the ‘summer’.  If you are visiting the Edinburgh Festival, it’s well-worth visiting the Talbot Rice Gallery.

17th Century Dutch Paintings : Golden Age- Part 1 National Gallery and Wallace Collection

***Update 19/9/2012

Tweet exchange on Ask a Curator Day on Twitter

ProfWhitestick‏@ProfWhitestick

@rijksmuseum #askacurator How many of your Albert Cuyp pictures in collection feature cows, number + %

Rijksmuseum‏@rijksmuseum

@ProfWhitestick I count 32 Albert Cuyp works featuring cows. But correct me if I’m wrong ;) http://bit.ly/UnCfPt

***end of update

Update 6/5/2012

A conversation on Twitter with the Wallace Collection:

Prof_Whitestick‏

new Post: Rediscovering an interest in 17th Century Dutch Paintings - at a gallery near you http://profwhitestick.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/17th-century-dutch-paintings-golden-age.html Tot ziens!

Wallace Collection‏

@profwhitestick Very pleased you enjoyed it - do you have a favourite art work in there?

Prof_Whitestick‏

@WallaceMuseum There is an Albert Cuyp painting with an avenue of trees and a view of Dordrecht and a group in the avenue.

Wallace Collection‏

@profwhitestick Brilliant choice!

*** end of update

I have always admired those 17^th Century paintings that would fit nicely in a suitcase and could fit in quite well at home.  It may be that growing up near the sea in Edinburgh gave one a sense of sharing the North Sea with European neighbours.  It may be the light or the detail but I still find much enjoyment in the style of landscapes, seascapes, town scenes and genre paintings such as the The Lacemaker, which strikes an impression of gloom, dark clothes and possibly dour Scottish themes.  Perhaps that’s what draws me to these paintings.  As they used to say in the Lace making towns of Ayrshire (Galston, Newmilns and Darvel): there is a lot going on behind the lace curtain!

The Lacemaker by Caspar Netscher

(taken at the Wallace Collection on 7th April 2012)

 

I was in the Netherlands in 1966 on a school cruise and the students were rioting at the time.  We had to travel through Amsterdam on a waterbus and the closest place to the centre we could visit on dry land was the Rijksmuseum.  Memories of endless gables of Amsterdam have remained with me and I can still “spot” Dutch influences in Scotland at Culross, Preston Mill and the East Neuk of Fife.  Similarly the trade between East Anglia and the Low Countries has an influence on landscapes and buildings.  On 10^th April BBC Radio3 Nightwave discussed landscape with Alexandra Harris contributing similar thoughts about Dutch influence on landscape culture in England.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01fjtls#synopsis

Just as my peripheral vision can pick up the Shard in London, it can also pick up lines in a painting of steeples, ship masts, avenues of trees and bridges over a canal or river.  Soon after starting this blog I attended an Art Through Words talk about Dutch painter Gerrit Berckheyde ‘Groote Kirke in Harlem’.  This is a painting of a large church and town centre scene in Harlem in the Netherlands.  This is where we have a problem in the Dutch language and the variants in spelling and for that matter the way that a screenreader will pronounce the names.  Sometimes a search will be unsuccessful but the predictor can be lucky.  I tried to get Bergheide right and was often “corrected”.  Here is the link to the National Gallery for this painting. 

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/gerrit-berckheyde-the-market-place-and-the-grote-kerk-at-haarlem

Indeed a search in the National Gallery website is accessible and many of the paintings, once found, have a description.  The National Gallery owes much of the collection to King George IV and Robert Peel. http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/

The Gallery also has a trail round some of the Dutch paintings where it is possible to zoom into some of the images.  This can make some paintings more accessible depending on the type of vision you may have. 

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/document-type/printed-trail/dutch-paintings-printed-trail

Many of us with sight loss can make out something and these finely drawn paintings of the 17^th Century allow me, with my peripheral vision, to get some idea of the painting while those with “tunnel vision” can often identify much of the detail.  I have written down some names, but be careful in copying and pasting into searches on the internet. There are a few lists on the Internet but with Dutch names both the first name and the surnames have changed over the years.

Johannes Vermeer

Rembrandt van Rijn

Esaias van de Velde

Frans Hals

Jan van der Heyden

Jacob van Ruisdael

Jan Steen

Pieter de Hooch

Willem van de Velde the Younger

Caspar Netscher

Gerard ter Borch

Aelbert Cuyp

Adam Frans van der Muelen

David Teniers the Younger

Ludolf Backhuyzen

Meindert Hobbema

Johannes Lingebach

Hendrick ten Oevers

Adrian van de Velde

Some of the problems in resolving the Dutch, Flemish, French and English search terms can be avoided with this very useful website for those interested in Dutch and Flemish Art.  It copes with the language divide in Belgium: http://www.codart.nl/index/

However, there is another problem with some art definitions.  Netherlandish is the term often used (see my post on Hieronymus Bosch) then Flemish Art is used for the period of Spanish occupied South Netherlands or Flanders.  Dutch is often used for North Netherlands, especially the Calvinist provinces which went on to gain independence and form the Kingdom of The Netherlands. 

It may be helpful to check out a list of Dutch artists and spellings.  Also, if you have access to some collections on the internet, it is worth searching for a Facebook gallery and trying to enlarge the image.  This sometimes works with a high resolution image.  For a history of Dutch Painting I have found this link to the famous Boijmans museum in Rotterdam -  http://collectie.boijmans.nl/en/theme/golden-age/

A few days after the National Gallery talk, I visited Kenwood House in Hampstead, London.  This is a beautiful Robert Adam House, though is closed till 2013 due to a major refurbishment. There is a fine collection of Dutch paintings including a Vermeer - Lady with Guitar - and some Rembrandts. The Rembrandt has gone on tour, though the Vermeer stays in the UK.   

I also saw a painting by Albert Cuyp. (http://www.englishheritageprints.com/cuyp_view_of_dordrecht_j910518/print/517505.html)

This shows a scene in Dordrecht and on enquiring at the bookshop if there was a postcard of the painting I was told that there was a book of paintings with the Cuyp painting in it under the Phaidon Label.  These books are large format and are handy for having at home.  The pages are large enough for me to notice something and a friend can often be persuaded to go with you and “see” others in the book which covers paintings in the National Gallery, Wallace Collection, Kenwood House, Buckingham Palace, National Gallery of Scotland as well as institutions in Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and New York.

Wallace Museum

I mentioned to my friend Jackie as we made our first visit to the newly refurbished Wallace Collection galleries that optics was a new technique for painters to use in art and sharp lines were just about discernible to me.  Sure enough the gallery notes at the Wallace mentioned that some painters used lenses to fine tune details!

The refurbishment of the Wallace Collection gallery of Dutch Paintings is worth visiting with an hour or so to spare.  There are 3 rooms on the first floor and a lift is available if needed. I am still “scanning” the huge Boucher paintings on the stairway and remembered that Zoffany had copied the style early in his career. In each of the galleries there are notes and if a friend, or even another person, is around to read out these notes, they describe the painting if you can make out the detail. 

Me by View of the Westerkerk, Amseterdam by Jan van der Heyden

(taken at the Wallace Collection on 24th March 2012)

It is important to realise that viewing the collection is not the same as in a conventional gallery. This is quite literally a collection - as the painting of Zoffany (Lawrence Dundas) shows.  We asked one of the attendants if it was OK to take a photograph and having been told that it was (No flash), Jackie took one of me with a painting on either side and a view of the paintings on their own.  I even took my first photograph since I lost my sight. Jackie politely told me that she must have moved, but I treated the phone as a viewfinder and must have moved myself but I am thinking of getting a camera so that I can snap my own things.

Me standing by Ships in a Calm by Willem van de Velde

(taken at the Wallace Collection on 24th March 2012 )

We had a short discussion with the attendant on duty and I must have been talking about the paintings of Cuyp in Dordrecht when we were told that van de Velde was in the next room. With about half of the paintings at about head height, I found I could make quite a lot of many of them. 

Two weeks later I took another friend to visit the Wallace collection and we spent more time on the Dutch Galleries and had a more detailed look at the larger Dutch pictures in the Great Hall.  In walking back via the Bonington pictures of French scenes with boats and harbours, I admired these as much as when I first noticed them.  In the bookshop a selection of the black and white catalogues are on sale. These are a bargain as the monochrome photographs often give a clearer and sharper image of the painting.  The text does indicate the colours used and provides a more academic study of the genre.  I have often found that some descriptions are not easily matchable with a colour image. 

TIP: There is a lot of construction in London’s West End.  Many buses are on diversion and it may be easier if taking a bus going south bound from the north to get off in Wigmore Street and get to Machester Square.  If a bus is diverted in the north direction then Portman Square is navigable, though take care in crossing Baker Street at any time, any place and anywhere!

Books mentioned:

Dutch Painting by Christopher Brown, Phaidon (1993) (ISBN 978 0 7148 2865 7)

Van Dyck at the Wallace Collection by Jo Hedley (1999) (ISBN 0900 785 64 0)

The Wallace Collection – Catalogue of Pictures Volume IV - Dutch and Flemish (1992) (ISBN 0900 785 38 1)

Aelbert Cuyp Edited by Arthur K Wheelock Jr. (2002) (ISBN 0 89468 286 5)

Dutch Landscapes by Desmond Shawe-Taylor (2010) (ISBN 978 1 905686 25 4)