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Museum Gouda – one of the oldest museums in the Netherlands – occupies the historic building of the former Catharina Infirmary. Among other things, it manages the versatile collection of the city of Gouda. The masterpieces of this collection include works by Michael Sweerts, Bartholomeus van der Helst, and a militia piece by Ferdinand Bol.
The collection of monumental altarpieces from the adjacent St. John’s Church is one of the most important sections of the museum’s permanent exhibition. These altarpieces were made by the leading artists of the second half of the 16th century and survived the turbulent eras of the Reformation and the Iconoclastic Fury. Together with the famous Stained-Glass Windows and the life-sized preparatory drawings known as cartoons, they constitute a heritage ensemble that is unique in Europe – and which is therefore included in the CODART Canon.
The seventeenth-century altarpieces by artists including Wouter Pietersz. Crabeth and Cornelis Schut from Gouda’s “house churches” – churches concealed behind the façades of private dwellings – together with diverse religious objects tell the story of the Catholic people of Gouda after the Reformation.
Ingmar Reesing, Curator Art & History before 1800 (January 2023)