The Norton Simon Museum has published a new catalogue of its Northern European art collection. This book highlights 95 paintings and works on paper by Dutch, Flemish, and German artists, spanning the fifteenth to the eighteenth century. The authors delve into the histories of these objects, offering fresh insights into their artistic significance and material properties.
A unifying theme among these works is their focus on humanity, depicted with remarkable realism through oil paint. This ranges from the tender gaze captured in Rembrandt’s Portrait of a Boy (1655–60) to the vibrant, freshly cut flowers and curious insects in Rachel Ruysch’s Nosegay on a Marble Plinth (ca. 1695), and includes recently conserved masterpieces like Lucas Cranach’s Adam and Eve (ca. 1530).
The catalogue was written by Amy Walsh, a former CODART member and a scholar specializing in Dutch and Flemish paintings and provenance research. She also previously served as a curator of European paintings at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The publication features an introduction by Carol Togneri and technical notes from Rosamond Westmoreland. Additional contributing authors include Ulrich Birkmaier, Lisa Forman, Devi Ormond, William W. Robinson, Gloria Williams Sander, Mark Watters, and Nancy E. Yocco.
Cover of Northern European Art in the Norton Simon Museum featuring a detail of Johannes Verspronck’s Portrait of a Woman (1641).
Northern European Art in the Norton Simon Museum
Amy Walsh (ed.)
Hardcover
526 pages, 327 color + b-w illus.
ISBN 9780300272338
Pasadena / New Haven (Norton Simon Museum / Yale University Press) 2025