Masterpieces from the Rijksmuseum-Amsterdam [antikvár]

The origins of the Rijksmuseum go back to 1798, the period of the Batavian Repubhc, when the property of the exiled Stadholder Prince William V was confiscated. Works of art which had been located in palaces all over the country were brought together in the Huis ten Bosch-palace in The Hague, where a national museum was set up along French lines. This was known as the National Art Gallery and was opened to the public on 31 May 1800. The collection consisted of barely 200 paintings and a few objects of historical significance. Today, nearly two hundred years later, this has expanded into a worid-famous collection of approximately 5.000 paintings, 30.000 works of sculpture and the applied arts, 17.000 historical objects, 3.000 works of Asiatic art and a million prints and drawings. The collection is housed in the Rijksmuseum building on the Stadhouderskade in Amsterdam, which was begun in 1876 and opened to the public on 13 July 1885. The architect, dr. P. J. H. Cuypers, created a monumental building whose interior and exterior ornamentation recalled important personalities and events of national history and culture. Inside, however, there is practically nothing left of the original decor. Over the years the exhibition rooms have been constantly modernised, a process which has tended to remove the often superfluous decoration which many people felt distracted attention from the works of art. The growth of the collection made repeated and rapid extension of the building necessary. Between 1898 and 1916 a new wing was built in two stages to house the modem art coOection (The Hague School, works by Breitner), while after the second world war, when the collection of applied art grew with exceptional speed, three-storey constructions were erected in both iimer courtyards to create considerable extra space for exhibition. The Rijksmuseum owes its international reputation in the first place to the great Dutch painters of the seventeenth century, many of whose masterpieces are in its possession. Public interest naturally tends to focus on these works. However, the rest of the collection is equally impressive. INDEX Jan Asselyn (1610-1652) The Threatened Swan Hendrick Avercamp (1585-1634) Winter Ambrosius Bosschaert (1573-1621) Flower-piece Jan Bmeghel (1568-1625) Flower-piece Gerard Dou (1613-1675) Rembrandt's Mother Floris van Dijck(1575-1651) Still life Jan van Goyen (1596-1656) Landscape with two Oaks Frans Hals 1579/85-1666) The Jolly Toper Frans Hals 1579/85-1666) Portrait oflsaac Massa and Beatrix van der Laen Meindert Hobbema (1638-1709) The Watermill Pieter de Hooch(1629-1682) A Mother's Duties Barend Comelis Koekkoek (1803-1862) Winterlandscape Nicolaes Maes (1634-1693) Old Woman Praying Gabriel Metsu (1629-1667) The sick child Rembrandt Haimensz. van Rijn (1606-1669) The Jewish Bride Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (1606-1669) The Holy Family at Night Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (1606-1669) "The Nightwatch" (after restoration in 1976) Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (1606-1669) The stone bridge Jacob Isaacksz. van Ruisdael (1628/29-1682) The Mill near Wijk bij Duurstede Jan Havicksz. Steen (1626-1679) The Adoration of the Shepherds Jan Havicksz. Steen (1626-1679) The Feast of S. Nicholas Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) Young Woman reading a letter Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) The kitchen-maid Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) The little street