In “Multiple Fascinations: Dutch and Flemish Prints from Bruegel to Rembrandt,” viewers are amused by Bruegel’s satire of peasants, amazed at depictions of real ruins, and reminded of their own mortality by Saenredam and Bloemaert’s “Vanitas.”
Last Friday, student curators Daisy Holman ’07 and Rebecca Mei ’07 gave a tour of the Dutch and Flemish prints from the 16th and 17th century on display in the Davison Art Center (DAC) show. Their talk focused on methods of allegory, the representation of people, landscaping, and narrative techniques.
Etchings and engravings by Rembrandt van Rijn, Christoffel Jegher, Pieter Brueghel, and others are featured. Some of the prints have descriptions by the student curators explaining the techniques, relations, and novelties of the works.
The exhibit was prepared by the students of last spring’s Museum Studies course, taught by Adjunct Lecturer in Art History and Curator of the DAC Clare Rogan.
In addition to Holman and Mei, the other student curators were Adina Bricklin ’06, Heather Craig ’06, Emma Doniger ’06, Shayna Jeffers ’06, Marina Kastan ’08, Emily Klason ’06, Mehiko Kono ’06, Kaylea Moore ’06, Charlie Morris ’07, and Jenevive Nykolak ’06.
“We were handling the prints…looking at many each class, and on our own free time,” Holman said. “Finding a common thread was an important part of designing the exhibit. We became very involved with the work, with specific movements, with techniques, and with the historical and intellectual background.”
One highlight was Pieter Van der Heyden’s “The Battle Between the Moneybags and the Strong Boxes,” which depicts an incredibly bizarre scene. In it, bags of money are wielding swords and fighting strong boxes, all of which have gaping wounds spilling coins. The fight is so chaotic that it is difficult to tell who is fighting whom. This piece was created as an allegory for the religious tension in the Netherlands at the time of its creation; it insinuates that the intolerance was not really due to religion but more profoundly based on other factors, such as money.
Not all of the works were so fantastical in scope. Rembrandt’s “Beggars Receiving Alms at the Door of a House” was memorable for its focus on peoples’ relationships without extraneous details. It reflects the changing attitudes of the Dutch that lead to a shift in public opinion that made the poor of the nation everyone’s responsibility.
Dispersed throughout the show were a number of nationalistic landscapes and portraits of people merely existing. In fact, the exhibit’s variety is its most remarkable feature.
Even 400 years after his birth, Rembrandt’s works still speak to its viewers. The other works in the gallery are right alongside his in terms of excellence. With the helpful descriptions written by the students, even those who do not consider themselves versed in art would enjoy stopping by.
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