April 26, 2011

Baroque Painting from Antwerp

So, Easter Sunday was a calm and relaxing day, and I went to the National Gallery in Oslo to check out an exhibition they are having there - which still will be up until 22nd of May:

Rubens – van Dyck – Jordaens. Baroque Painting from Antwerp

The museum is divided into six different sections with different themes - Religious and Allegory, Mythology, Portraits, Daily life in Antwerp, "City, land and ocean" and Still life

In addition to Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck and Jordaens, 15 other masters are presented, among them Jan Breughel the Elder, Jan Fijt, Theodor Rombouts and Frans Snijders.

Seeing that Rubens (1577-1640), van Dyck (1599-1641) and Jordaens (1593-1678) were the three masters that brought prestige to the Antwerp School of Painting, there is no doubt that this is an interesting exhibition.
Thus, two of the more particular paintings, were "A concert of Birds" by Frans Snyders (1579–1657 - Also know as Snijders) and "Bouquet of Flowers in a Sculptured Vase" by Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625). They seemed kind of "out of place" compared to the other paintings that were exhibited, but nevertheless gave life the exhibition itself.

The portrait of Frans Snyders and his wife by van Dyck was stunning, and Venus Frigida by Jacob Jordaens was the one that reached out to me the most, taking interests in consideration.

I have to say, it was a rather interesting trip which gave me several flashbacks to the time I was in High School and had art history.
We had a teacher that had traveled a lot, and therefore had pictures of almost everything we ever talked about in class - except the things you cannot take pictures of anymore mind you. She showed them on slides in class, as she told stories regarding seeing the paintings and such live - being able to study the details and the craftsmanship.
It is not difficult to understand her fascination regarding traveling around seeing the paintings in real life after an exhibition like this.

And there is one - actually two - conclusions I can make from this trip:
I yet have to see a photography of one of these paintings that justifies them, and if you are in Oslo before May 22nd, you ought to pay the national museum a visit!

Links:
The National Museum homepage
Jacob Jordaens on Wikipedia
Rubens on WikiPedia
van Dyck on WikiPedia
Frans Snyders on WikiPedia
Jan Brueghel the Elder on WikiPedia

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