The identity of the painter Jacobus Vrel still remains a mystery, which perhaps makes his work all the more appealing. His intriguing pictures will star in a monographic exhibition in Paris and The Hague in 2023. As the show was originally also planned for Munich, the Alte Pinakothek acquired a painting by Vrel in 2018. In this feature, Bernd Ebert tells us about the Munich painting and its place in Vrel’s oeuvre.

“On the evening of 4 July 2018, just after the stroke of 7pm, the hammer fell. It was done. Following a nerve-racking bidding war at the Old Masters Evening at Sotheby’s in London, the competing bidders gave up lot number 36. The trophy went to art dealer Johnny van Haeften, who acquired Jacobus Vrel’s Street Scene with People Conversing from the estate of the renowned collector, Baron Willem van Dedem of Surrey, for the Alte Pinakothek in Munich.” Read on…

CODARTfeatures

Published monthly, the features provide information on new curatorial developments, current projects, collections of Dutch and Flemish art in museums worldwide, as well as insight into the work of the museum curator.

Last month’s feature was Dürer Was Here: A Journey Becomes Legend by Anne van Oosterwijk. To browse all features, visit codart.nl/features