Information
The Detroit Institute of Arts is home to a globally important collection of Dutch and Flemish art created between 1400 and 1800. Bracketed by Jan van Eyck’s Saint Jerome in his Study and Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s The Wedding Dance, the collection of early Netherlandish paintings features works by Quentin Massys, Joos van Cleve, and Michael Sittow. These find complements in significant sculptures and works of decorative art, such as the oak figures of The Arenberg Lamentation, stained glass painted by Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen, and exceptional tapestries, some designed by Pieter Coecke van Aelst or woven by the Geubels workshop.
Highlights of the Dutch collection from the long seventeenth century include paintings by Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Jacob van Ruisdael, Gerard ter Borch, Samuel van Hoogstraten, Jan Steen, and Rachel Ruysch, presented alongside exceptional Delftware, silver, furniture, and bronzes. Works by Rubens, Snyders, and Frans Pourbus the Younger represent Flemish painting in the galleries, while a considerable reserve collection of tapestries and lace documents the region’s achievements in fine textile production.
The Department of Prints and Drawings contains nearly 900 Netherlandish prints and drawings, including works by Lucas van Leyden, Jacques de Gheyn II, Hendrick Goltzius, Adriaen van Ostade, the Van de Velde family, and Rembrandt and his workshop.
Chassica Kirchhoff, Assistant Curator of European Sculpture & Decorative Arts (October 2024)
Collection catalogues
Masters of Dutch painting: the Detroit Institute of Arts
Keyes, George S.
Detroit, 2004
Flemish and German paintings of the 17th century : the collections of The Detroit Institute of Arts
Held, Julius S., Frederick Cummings
Detroit, 1982
Related CODART publications
Dr. Yao-Fen You, “Sculpture and Decorative Arts from the Low Countries in the Collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts”, CODARTfeatures, September 2012.