This summer, twelve museums are showing a masterpiece from the Rijksmuseum side by side with a masterpiece from their own collection. In every province, a perfect match – an intimate meeting of two masterpieces. From personal portraits and poignant scenes to domestic scenes and a love couple. Twelve writers have put the twelve encounters into words in the book Match. Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar ties together two biblical representations by sixteenth-century painters from (the region of) Alkmaar.
Cornelis Buys (ca. 1480-1519/24), The Last Supper, ca. 1535
Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar
These are depictions of the story of David and Bathsheba, and of the Last Supper. Jan van Scorel depicted the beautiful Bathsheba as she bathes; in the background, King David gives a letter for her to a messenger. This monumental painting is from the collection of the Rijksmuseum. The second painting, depicting the Last Supper as an intimate gathering of Jesus and his followers, is from the collection of Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar and was made by Scorel’s contemporary Cornelis Buys. The theme connecting these two works is intimacy. Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar asked writer, journalist and activist Umayya Abu-Hanna to write the accompanying text for the publication. In it, she enters into an imaginary conversation with her 84-year-old mother about the theme of intimacy and how it is depicted in both works.
For information about the other matches, see schattenuithetrijks.nl