From the museum website, 2 March 2009
Caravaggio in Holland? No, the founder of Roman Baroque painting never journeyed to the Netherlands. On the contrary, a group of painters from the Dutch city of Utrecht set out for Rome with the aim of studying Caravaggio’s spectacular chiaroscuro painting with their own eyes. The exhibition will present works by Caravaggio himself and by the so-called Utrecht Caravaggists, who enthusiastically adopted the new pictorial language developed by their idol, varied it and developed it further.
An exquisite selection of paintings by Caravaggio will be juxtaposed with music and genre scenes by Dirck van Baburen, Gerard van Honthorst and Hendrick Terbrugghen. Some forty masterworks, including the famous Lute Player – the quintessential Baroque musician scene –, will provide insight into the Utrecht painters’ intensive exploration of the art of Caravaggio and his Italian contemporaries. In the mirror of his reception in Holland, Caravaggio himself will also appear in a new light.
Publication
Caravaggio in Holland: Musik und Genre bei Caravaggio und den Utrechter Caravaggisten
Gabriel Dette, Bastian Eclercy and Jochen Sander, with contributions by M. Dekiert, G. Dette, B. Eclercy, W. Franits, L. P. Grijp, N. Hartje-Grave, L. Helmus, T. Ketelsen, E. Korthals Altes and J. Sander
192 pp., 61 color plates, 41 images in color and 22 in black and white, 30 x 24 cm. paperbound.
ISBN-13: 978-3-7774-8065-7