That rare sunny day – gotta take advantage of it!
Headed for the Rijksmuseum, for a little Rembrandt, Jan Steen, and Vermeer, to
name just a few. (It is having lived in Birmingham and being forced to have to
learn how to get yourself around that has given me the confidence, and courage,
for tackling the unknown like this.)
Today was the day for my most ambitious foray into
Amsterdam. For the first couple hours I ate, did up the dishes, got ready for
going out, and then got myself oriented before taking off. (I had had to walk
Andrew 100 feet – still in my pajamas, though coated, of course – to get him
into work – it’s a key thing – and then return inside till I was ready to exit
the flat.
Both Sunday and Monday evenings had seen Andrew
and me exploring mainly the ‘downtown’ downtown of Amsterdam. My route to the
Rijksmuseum took me through this area and then beyond. It was fun to continue
to expand my horizons and discover that a very fine part of the city did indeed
continue on outside these touristy blocks of town.
The Rijksmuseum (I have come to learn that ‘i’
and ‘j’ together are pronounced like a long ‘i,’ like Reich) is a Dutch
national museum, located on the Museumplein (several blocks with a number of
different museums). Dedicated to arts, crafts, and history, it has a large
collection of paintings from the Dutch Golden Age. (It was the variety of
collections, plus the variety of artists, that had attracted me to this
particular museum, as opposed to the specifically-concentrated Van Gogh,
Hermitage (the greatest collection of Russian art outside of Russia) or
Rembrandt museums. A thing that really surprised me when I entered the museum was
that I was told by the attendant that photos were okay – as long as you didn’t
use a flash. That really blew me away – while, of course, the mere taking of a photo
in and of itself cannot harm a painting, it is the idea of allowing photo
taking altogether, with the off-chance that the random unscrupulous person
WOULD sneak in a flash. Well, I guess they’re more trusting that I would be_
Saw a lot of paintings we’ve seen in art books
all our lives. Let me tell you, it was pretty remarkable – to be there, among
all that famous, historical art! Of all I saw, my absolute favorite was ‘The ‘Milkmaid,’ known equally as well by
the title, ‘The Kitchen Maid,’ by
Vermeer. Stunning workmanship! You could study that painting for a very long
time and not run out of things to observe.
There were many, many Rembrandts, and most
impressive by far, and the largest ever painted, was ‘The Night Watch’ or more properly, ‘The Shooting Company of
Frans Banning Cocq.’ It seems each little burgh in Amsterdam had to supply their own
small standing army, so this type of large, populated painting was quite common
and would have hung in each town hall. The painting
may be more properly titled The
Company of captain Frans Banning Cocq and lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch
preparing to march out. One of the most famous paintings in the world, The Night Watch by Rembrandt
Harmenszoon van Rijn, a citizen right here in Amsterdam, is on
prominent display in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, being the best known
painting in their collection. It
is renowned for three elements: its colossal size (11 ft 10in x
14 ft 4in), the effective use of light and shadow (chiaroscuro), and
the perception of motion in what would have traditionally been a static
military portrait.
Here’s an
interesting factoid: For much of its existence, The Night Watch was coated with a
dark varnish which gave the incorrect impression that it depicted a night
scene, leading to the name by which it is now commonly known. (This varnish was
removed only in the 1940s.) In 1715, upon its removal from the Musketeers' Meeting Hall where
it originally hung to the Amsterdam Town Hall, the painting was
cut down on all four sides. This was done, presumably, to fit the painting
between two columns, an all too common practice before the 19th century. This
resulted in the loss of two characters on the left-hand side of the painting,
the top of the arch, the balustrade, and the edge of the step. This balustrade
and step were key visual tools used by Rembrandt to give the painting a forward
motion. (Well, how about that – sad!)
Found this - enjoy! http://www.googleartproject.com/collection/rijksmuseum/
After
my scintillating day out, we stayed in for the evening – cozy and warm. First, a lovely
homemade dinner (If I do say so myself) of salad and tortellini with
vegetables, enhanced with the pesto Andrew had gotten ahead of my visit, and afterwards watched Andrew’s
filtered version of ‘Inglorious Bastards,’ on his computer. Wow!
Photos_
1- Rijkmuseum, located at Jan Luijkenstraat 1
2- The Milkmaid - Vermeer
3- Still Life with Flowers - Bollongier (you know me - I like flowers!)
3- Still Life with Flowers - Bollongier (you know me - I like flowers!)
4- The Night Watch – Rembrandt
5- detail
6- famous self portrait, also found in the
Rijkmuseum
7- lesser-known captivating self portrait, not found in the Rijkmuseum
8- famous sculpture (Andrew tells me a must-do photo opportunity - you can see some that day had that very idea) within the museumkwartier, or museumplein, where a multitude of museums make their home
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