2009 08 15 - NMS - A Story of the Image : Old & New Masters from Antwerp

Abel Grimmer (1555/75-1610/30): The Four Seasons, Spring, 1607
Oil on panel, 34 x 49 cm
Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp

This work consists of four panels which respectively portray spring (the laying out of a garden), summer (corn harvest), autumn (the slaughter of a pig) and winter (skaters). Such scenes were very popular and were relatively large in scale, because they represented everyday life in a precise, realistic manner.


Abel Grimmer (1555/75-1610/30): The Four Seasons, Autumn, 1607
Oil on panel, 34 x 49 cm
Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp

This work consists of four panels which respectively portray spring (the laying out of a garden), summer (corn harvest), autumn (the slaughter of a pig) and winter (skaters). Such scenes were very popular and were relatively large in scale, because they represented everyday life in a precise, realistic manner.


David Rijckaert III (1612-1661): Soldiers engaged in plundering a Farm and a Church
Oil on canvas, 119 x 178 cm
Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp

Using self-assured brushstrokes the painter here evokes the drama of soldiers that are plundering. They threaten common people with death; mothers and children look on in horror at the threats of the plundering soldiers



Jan Breughel I (1568-1625): The Adoration of the Magi
Oil on copper, 26,7 x 35,7 cm
Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp

Breughel came from a family of painters. He is mainly known as a painter of landscapes and the often exuberant lifestyle of the farmers. Here we find a combination of a Flemish country scene and a Christian Biblical subject, the birth of the son of God in a ramshackle manger.



Jan Steen (1626-1679): Wedding Feast
Oil on panel, 43 x 60 cm
Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp

The depiction of all kinds of feast is a favourite subject. The bride at the table is sat there looking sad, as her husband is engaged in conversation with a rather drunk person. In the middle of the scene some pub goers are dancing rather inelegantly. Such scenes have a double meaning: the purchasers of such a painting belong to the nouveau riche, who are in principle supposed to disapprove of such scenes, but still enjoy looking at such scenes in the privacy of their own home.


Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640): Lamentation over the Dead Christ
Oil on panel, 56 x 75,5 cm
Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp

Here Rubens reveals himself as a master in the evocation and build-up of drama with adept brush marks. Although it is a Christian subject, non-believers also can feel the emotional charge of this scene.



David Teniers II (1610-1690): The Temptation of Saint Anthony of Egypt
Oil on copper, 54 x 76 cm
Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp

Teniers was a multifaceted artist and also the founder of the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. Here we see a frightening scene taking place in a cave. Saint Anthony, a monk who led a reclusive life, is shown being seduced by a beautiful lady and harassed by all sorts of monsters who represent evil.



Anthony Van Dyck ( 1599-1641): Portrait of a Nobleman on a Horse
Oil on canvas, 266,5 x 167,5 cm
Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp

Van Dyck received his education in Antwerp from Peter Paul Rubens, the master of Baroque painting. Rubens taught his favourite student all the tricks of the trade. Van Dyck developed as the virtuoso painter of countless official portraits of kings and nobility. A magnificent example is this rider portrait of a nobleman from Italy. The refined graciousness in the movements and the splendour of his colouring brought him international fame. This stands in stark contrast with the “everyday, banal reality” as represented by Adriaen Brouwer (see the work beside this one).




Adriaen Brouwer (c. 1605-1638): Old man in a pub
Oil on canvas, 34,9 x 28 cm
Flemish Community

In his limited oeuvre dealing with societal hierarchy, he opts for the trivial: pub scenes with an erotic hint. He had the audacity to hold up a mirror of the everyday. Through his painterly virtuosity, he does however transcend the banal moralising depictions of the everyday of the painters in his time. This painting is, as it were, a key moment in the story of the image, since it represents the shift from the depiction of an idealised world to a radical, yet still a subtle, reflection of everyday reality.







The Story of the Image is an exhibition initiated by the non-profit organization SingAnt (SingaporeAntwerp) and curated by the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) and the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (MuHKA), which have also lent the works of art together with the Museum Plantin-Moretus/Print room Antwerp. The logistic organization was provided by the City of Antwerp, together with the Shanghai Art Museum and the National Museum of Singapore. This project could be realized thanks to the support of many sponsors.
After an initial run at MuHKA in 2007, the exhibition will be on display at the Shanghai Art Museum from May 1 through June 21, 2009, and at the National Museum of Singapore from August 14 through October 4, 2009.