CODART, Dutch and Flemish art in museums worldwide

Organizers

The Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

From the museum website

The Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut, USA, presents an exhibition of works by Jan van der Heyden (1637-1712), the greatest painter of cityscapes in the Golden Age of Dutch painting, from September 16, 2006, through January 10, 2007. The exhibition Jan van der Heyden (1637 –1712) is the first monographic exhibition of Jan van der Heyden’s art to be mounted in seventy years and the first show ever in the United States. The exhibition will have its only showing in the United States at the Bruce Museum. It will then travel in a slightly abridged form to the renowned Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the foremost museum of Dutch art in the world (February 1, 2007 – April 30, 2007).

The exhibition Jan van der Heyden (1637 –1712) is organized by the Bruce Museum, in collaboration with the Rijksmuseum, and is drawn from several dozen public and private lenders from throughout the United States and Europe, including the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; Musée du Louvre, Paris; Amsterdams Historisch Museum, Amsterdam; Royal Cabinet of Paintings, The Mauritshuis, The Hague; Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence; the National Gallery of Art, Washington; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Detroit Institute of Arts; and several private collections. The show is curated by Peter C. Sutton, Executive Director of the Bruce Museum, who also served as the lead author of the exhibition catalogue.
Jan van der Heyden (1637 –1712) ,consists of 37 of the artist’s cityscape paintings and 16 drawings with supplemental material on Van der Heyden’s publication on firefighting.

As the preeminent cityscape artist, Jan van der Heyden specialized in exquisitely observed town views, city squares, tree-lined canals with handsome gabled houses, elegant country homes, views of foreign cities, and architectural fantasies known as capricci. Primarily remembered for these pioneering urban views, he also painted pure landscapes as well as a few still lifes, some of which will be on view in the exhibition.

The exhibition Jan van der Heyden (1637 –1712) and its catalogue offer an overview of Van der Heyden’s life and artistic career, revealing for the first time some of the “art secrets” that he used in composing his minutely executed scenes. Although he had no recorded students, the artist inspired legions of followers and imitators; indeed his name became synonymous with cityscape painting.

The extensively illustrated 250-page catalogue is the first publication on the artist in the English language. It was written by Dr. Sutton, with essays by Jonathan Bikker and Arie Wallert, as well as catalogue entries by Taco Dibbits and Marijn Schapelhouman of the Rijksmuseum and Norbert Middelkoop of the Amsterdams Historisch Museum.

Catalogue

Jan van der Heyden (1637 – 1712)
Peter C. Sutton, lead author. Essays: Jonathan Bikker and Arie Wallert. Catalogue entries: Taco Dibbits, Marijn Schapelhouman, and Norbert Middelkoop
250 illustrated pages, including 130 paintings, drawings and figures
New Haven, Yale University Press

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