The work of the Dutch painters Jan Jansz. de Stomme and Wassenbergh meets Herman Collenius’s remarkable “house of the 13 temples” in a large-scale survey exhibition at the Groninger Museum. Rich in Groningen: Estate Houses and City Palaces, 1600–1800, brings together a host of treasures owned by wealthy Groningen residents in the 17th and 18th centuries.
A highlight of the show is a reconstruction of a room of the “house of the 13 temples” at Oude Boteringestraat 23 in Groningen. Herman Collenius, one of Groningen’s most renowned artists, covered the room’s walls and ceiling in paintings.
Visitors to Rich in Groningen will get an intimate look at how well-to-do Groningers of the day lived – families like the Clants, of the Hanckemaborg in Zuidhorn, and the Lewes, of Ewsum in Middelstum. Though their grand houses are no more, many of their precious possessions remain. The wealthy of the day strove to outdo each other by acquiring works of art like the paintings of De Stomme and Collenius, Jan de Rijk’s remarkable wood carvings, and precious silver and porcelain objects.
HermanCollenius (1669-1720), Vanitas, ca. 1689-1720
Groninger Museum, Groningen