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The Philadelphia Museum of Art houses extensive holdings in Dutch and Flemish art. The John G. Johnson Collection forms the cornerstone of the paintings collection, comprising over 400 religious subjects, landscapes, still lifes, genre scenes, and portraits spanning the fifteenth through eighteenth centuries. Notable artists include Jan van Eyck, Hieronymus Bosch, Gerard David, Jan Steen, Jacob van Ruisdael, Judith Leyster, and Pieter Jansz. Saenredam. Highlights include Rogier van der Weyden’s Crucifixion altarpiece, a pen painting by Hendrick Goltzius, and Prometheus Bound by Peter Paul Rubens. The museum also holds a set of tapestries designed by Rubens, representing events in the life of Constantine the Great.
Among the thousands of prints, drawings, and illuminated manuscripts from the Low Countries are numerous etchings by Rembrandt and particularly strong impressions of Northern Mannerist engravings. Remarkable examples of Netherlandish sculpture include a Gothic Crucifixion group from Oignies and a sixteenth-century carved altarpiece bearing scenes from the Passion. Numerous pieces of Flemish lace, an impressive collection of Dutch tiles and other ceramics, and a seventeenth-century Dutch period room from Haarlem round out this comprehensive portrait of Dutch and Flemish material culture.
Heather Hughes, Kathy and Ted Fernberger Associate Curator of Prints, and Jack Hinton, Henry P. McIlhenny Curator of European Decorative Arts and Sculpture (October 2024)
Related CODART publications
Dr. Christopher D.M. Atkins, “Connoisseurship and the John G. Johnson Collection in Philadelphia”, CODARTfeatures, December 2015.