Information from the curator, 30 August 2010
The Brukenthal National Museum comprises one of the most prestigious collections of Dutch and Flemish paintings in this part of Europe. The National Museum in Gdańsk invited the Brukenthal Museum to stage a representative exhibition in Gdansk, for the first time.
Displaying a number of 36 paintings dating from the 15th to 18th century that belonged to baron Samuel von Brukenthal’s collection the exhibition is achieved with the intention of illustrating the richness and diversity of its Dutch and Flemish paintings.
Alongside the masterpieces belonging to Jan van Eyck, Hans Memling, Pieter Brueghel the Younger the paintings from the Brukenthal’s collection offer the visitors the opportunity to contemplate the religious works of Pieter van Avont, Pieter I Gysels and Alexander Adriaensen, the portraits made by Anthoni Schoonjans and Gonzales Coques, the decorativeness or the sumptuous still lifes of Frans Snyders, Jan Fyt and Frans Yckens, the intimate atmosphere depicted by David Teniers the Younger and the highly allusive genre scenes of Jan van Liss, as well as the encounter with the “chronicle of the every day life” in the Low Countries represented by Jacob Savery the Younger, Joos Cornelisz Droochsloot. This overview of the Renaissance and Golden Age Dutch and Flemish painting is completed by the varied landscapes of Lucas van Valkenborch, Denis van Alsloot, Jan Griffier the Elder, Jan van Essen and the hunting scenes illustrated by Roelant Savery, Jan Lingelbach and Pieter van Laer called Bamboccio.
A richly illustrated catalogue of the whole stock of Dutch and Flemish paintings on display inclosing also two introductory essays accompany the exhibition.