Exhibition in the Hermitage Leiden collection opening hours. Rembrandt, Vermeer and Leonardo: What you need to know about the masterpieces of the Leiden collection in the Hermitage
On September 5, the Hermitage opened the exhibition “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer. Masterpieces of the Leiden Collection." 82 paintings by Dutch artists of the 17th century (the two main stars - Rembrandt and Vermeer - are in the title of the project) belong to the American businessman Thomas Kaplan and his wife Daphne and were collected in just 15 years.
The exhibition represents approximately a third of their world's largest private collection of the Golden Age of Dutch painting. It is named the “Leiden Collection” in honor of Leiden, the birthplace of Rembrandt and the “Little Dutchman” Gerrit Dau.
"City 812" asked Thomas Kaplan but about old painting and modern audiences.
Reference. Thomas Kaplan (1962) is an American billionaire; as of July 2018, his fortune is estimated at one billion dollars. He specializes in precious metals mining investments and consulting. Kaplan is a collector and philanthropist, founder of a fund for the protection of wild cats. His Leiden Collection includes more than 250 paintings and drawings by artists created between 1620 and 1700.
About painting
- In HollandXVII century, a huge interest in painting suddenly appeared. Millions of paintings were painted by thousands of artists. And only a few of these thousands know.
“It was an amazing phenomenon of creative enthusiasm. 3-5 million paintings were created in a country where only a few million people lived.
Of course, only a small part of all this is considered significant today. But this explosion of activity changed the art world forever. Rembrandt, in my opinion, was the most important artist of that time. Henri Malraux once said that Rembrandt was the first artist who managed to touch the soul. This is a subjective judgment, but I agree with it.
Rembrandt rethought the classical concept of beauty and gave freedom to artists, who since then have the opportunity to define for themselves what beauty is. Rembrandt's genetic message inspired Goya, Van Gogh, Picasso, Francis Bacon, and modern Chinese artists.
— Why was the golden age of Dutch painting so short-lived - only about half a century?
— This is typical for the world of painting; a genius appeared who inspired many. And then the bursts fade. Rembrandt and Vermeer are now considered the main figures of that time.
— Could the emphasis shift over time and other names appear?
— Carel Fabricius was on his way to achieving the quality of Rembrandt. This was his most talented student. The opportunity to purchase a painting by Fabricius is an incredible success.
Jan Lievens was Rembrandt's equal when they shared a studio in Leiden. But in 1632, Rembrandt left for Amsterdam, he was a popular portrait painter, money gave him freedom and he painted Minevra. It is shown at the exhibition. This is the beginning of his journey to greatness and transcendence that we see throughout the centuries.
If Lievens had died young, then perhaps he would have been spoken of as a failed Rembrandt. “Boy in a Turban” from our collection is evidence of this; the Hermitage uses this painting as the “logo” of the exhibition.
But Livens went to London, intending to become a court painter. He began working in Van Dyck's studio and lost his passion and drama.
About collecting
— It is believed that a museum, especially a state one, is a better place to store masterpieces than a private collection (especially if it is owned by the artist’s heirs) whose fate is unpredictable. Is it really?
- I'll tell you about us. Our task is to extract works of art from such private collections and make them available to the public.
— If the paintings you own ended up in large museums, would many of them end up in collections, occasionally appearing at exhibitions? Or am I wrong?
— It all depends on the museum. The Hermitage has plenty of Rembrandts, but I think that my paintings would be on permanent display.
— A private collection usually reflects the taste of the owner. Museum art, especially if the museum is many years old, is considered to objectively reflect the history of art. Is it so?
“The Leiden collection reflects our tastes, but we are deeply immersed at this time.
— Over time, with persistence and luck, can a collector compare with the best museums, if not in quantity, then in quality of works of art?
— This is our goal; not many museums have so many paintings by Rembrandt and his school. Many museums do not have Vermeer or Carl Fabritius. This is a challenge for the collector.
We are incredibly lucky. Luck took precedence over wisdom and other rational things. I have been in love with Rembrandt's art since I was 6 years old, when I first saw him. When I started collecting, I didn’t think that I would be able to acquire at least one work by Rembrandt. Now we have 14 of them - almost half of what is in private collections.
- And the second half?
“The owners won’t let her out of their hands.”
— How did you manage to collect so many works by Rembrandt?
— 15 years ago, they sold me works by Rembrandt at a price less than the price of works by Andy Warhol. Despite the fact that in nature there are 70 thousand works by Warhol and only 350 by Rembrandt. But we had a love and passion for Rembrandt and the Dutch, and others did not. We collected what we liked, buying a painting a week. They joked about us - you collect like Catherine the Second.
— Were you not suspected of investing?
- I have never heard of such an opinion, and we ourselves did not think so. On the one hand, I didn’t think that we were making a financial mistake, but on the other hand, I didn’t think about buying paintings as an investment.
Now interest in old masters has begun to grow. It is impossible to assemble a collection like ours. But you can collect other old masters.
- Who, for example?
- Surprisingly, Velazquez can still be found. El Greco, Titian... There is an opportunity for lovers of old masters to prove themselves.
— Can we say that your acquisitions brought paintings by Dutch masters out of oblivion?
— We played a certain role in the rehabilitation of Jan Lievens and a more noticeable role for “fine” painting — Gerrit Dau, Gottfried Shelton, Ferdinad Ball. For Karel Fabricius, we certainly did less than Donna Tartt's novel The Goldfinch.
— If a researcher of Dutch art comes to you and doubts the authenticity of some works, will you let him in?
- Yes, let him work. The more we know about our paintings, the better.
Jan Vermeer. The girl behind the virginal
— Does collecting interfere with your work? Have you ever been busy with an important project and the dealer calls?
- This happened. We make a decision right away. One day I was in Beijing on business and had to leave a meeting to complete a deal to purchase Vermeer's Girl at the Virgin and a Rembrandt self-portrait that were being sold in Las Vegas.
I am absolutely sure that this call should have been answered. This is the only Vermeer in a private collection.
— Are your Chinese partners offended?
- Not at all.
About the public
— Why do you think people go to museums?
- For different reasons. I think that some are for beauty. Many people, in order to consider themselves cultured, want to see everything with their own eyes. Some people get inspiration from what they see. Finally, some seek solace in our difficult, sometimes evil world.
Beauty is the truth that connects. I believe that Dostoevsky was absolutely right when he said that beauty will save the world. This is not a naive phrase. When Solzhenitsyn first heard it, he was surprised and perplexed. But later he agreed with Dostoevsky.
— Is hype good or bad?
“I think that if an exhibition is done to introduce people to art, then this is normal.
— Why are exhibitions of old masters more popular than even art?XIX century, not to mention the twentieth?
— Because there are magical names - Leonardo, Rembrandt... The public knows that these are important artists. If you like, it is in the DNA of the audience - this is what needs to be seen.
— If we use your image, Warhol won’t become a magical artist?
“It’s too early to talk about it now.” For Warhol collectors, he is already magical. But who knows who the public will consider him to be in a hundred years.
There were thousands of names in the golden age of Dutch painting. If at least one percent survives, then it’s already good. Time is the judge. Rembrandt and Vermeer have stood the test of time. As for Warhol, maybe.
Peter van Laer. Self-portrait with attributes of practicing magic.
— Does the habit of modern young people to live in the virtual world interfere with the perception of the art of old masters?
- Don't know. I have three children. The youngest is 8 years old, he understands new technologies better than me. I am a historian by training, the past is clearer and closer to me.
— Virtual exhibitions have become popular in Russia. In a specially created space, a multimedia installation is shown, representing, for example, all the famous masterpieces of impressionism. In reality, it is impossible to put them together. How do you feel about such projects?
- I think this is correct.
— And would you agree to participate in such a project?
— If our collection were supplemented by other private collections of Dutch masters. For example, all Rembrandt is from private collections.
— How do you imagine the ideal viewer for your collection?
— I don’t think there should be any ideal visitor. People have many different reasons for coming to museums. And I will not divide them into categories - ideal, random, etc.
Vadim Shuvalov
On the headband is Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn. Minerva. 1635
Masterpieces by Rembrandt and Vermeer can be seen in the Hermitage. The main museum complex, the Nicholas Hall, houses the Leiden Collection, one of the world's most famous private collections of Dutch painting of the 17th century.
The world first saw this collection in 2017. Now she has, so to speak, a busy touring schedule. Europe, China, Russia, then the Arab Emirates. As Mikhail Piotrovsky admitted, the exhibition in St. Petersburg was in Hermitage style. It seems incredible, but the Leiden miracle was completed, albeit temporarily. But Anna Bezkrovnaya will tell you what.
ANNA BLOODLESS, correspondent:“This exhibition is, one might say, an unprecedented event. After all, it combines two exhibitions at once: one of the largest museum exhibitions and, perhaps, the largest private collection of Dutch painting of the 17th century, which is why 8 Hermitage masterpieces were included in the temporary exhibition. You can distinguish the paintings by their frames: the Hermitage ones are gilded, while the imported ones are minimalist black.”
However, the difference in framing does not interfere with the dialogue of the works. Moreover, some paintings could not enter into this communication for centuries. The “Resting Traveler” from the Leiden Collection and the Hermitage peasant woman were separated. And the paintings, apparently, were created as pairs: in one, a man with a pulled down stocking, and in the second, Franz van Mieris the Elder depicted a girl with a basket filled with eggs. One of them is broken.
IRINA SOKOLOVA,Chief Researcher of the Department of Western European Fine Arts, Curator of Dutch Painting of the State Hermitage:“In the 17th century, eggs were considered an aphrodisiac. It is no coincidence that this picture was described back in the 18th century as an allegory of lost innocence. Therefore, these paintings, which seem to be a simple everyday scene, have complex symbolic overtones.”
Even if temporarily supplementing already established exhibitions is one of the goals of collectors. Spouses Daphne and Thomas Kaplan think of their collection as a kind of library from which museums can borrow paintings. Such openness is astonishing, as is the collection itself. In 15 years, in the 21st century, to collect true masterpieces of the Dutch is a miracle; the collection cannot be called anything else.
THOMAS KAPLAN,collector, owner of the “Leiden Collection”:“Now my family and I believe that promoting eternal values is very important. Cynicism, of which there is so much now, is not really for us, or rather, we reject it altogether. Instead of building walls and burning bridges between people, we use our most powerful weapon - Remrandt and a passion for bringing people together.
The Kaplan family truly approached collecting with passion. They started buying paintings in 2000. And for the first time in 5 years, we purchased one canvas per week. Moreover, some of the works have a fascinating history. Rembrandt’s “Allegory of Smell,” for example, was considered lost.
LARA JAGER-KRASSELT,“The painting was discovered during a local auction in New Jersey. They wanted to sell it for $800, it was described as the work of a certain European artist of the 19th century. But art dealers realized that this was not so and assumed that this was the missing Rembrandt. Research has proven this.
Currently the collection contains three paintings from the “allegory of feelings” series. This is an early Rembarndt. His mature work, the majestic “Minerva,” is already a truly monumental work. Moreover, the artist here uses not only his original, unique light transmission. He also takes an innovative look at the image of the goddess.
LARA JAGER-KRASSELT,curator of the Leiden Collection, New York, USA:“In the 17th century, Greek goddesses were depicted naked, they were idealized, they were supposed to rise above reality. But Rembrandt doesn't do this. He does not idealize, but finds individual traits. That’s why we see what appears to be an ordinary Dutch woman.”
If Rembrandt strove for a kind of historicism, then Vermeer captured ordinary life. There is one of his paintings in the Leiden collection. The only one in a private collection.
LARA JAGER-KRASSELT,curator of the Leiden Collection, New York, USA:“We see a simple and understandable moment on the canvas, but this is its beauty. The girl sits at the virginal, her hands on the keys, surrounded by a simple interior. Vermeer seemed to capture a moment that happened during the day. And this softness and simplicity attracts.”
The artist left just over 30 canvases, and not a single Russian museum has his works. That’s why the public looks at “Girl with a Virgin” with special trepidation. Vermeer's paintings have been brought to the Hermitage more than once. But the Russian public is seeing this for the first time.
MIKHAIL PIOTROVSKY,Director of the State Hermitage:
World in the truest sense of the word. Dutch paintings from the American collection have already been in France and China. Now in Russia. The next point is the United Arab Emirates. Such a motley collection of countries that are not similar to each other proves once again: art and love for it have no boundaries.
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From September 5 to January 13, the Nikolaev Hall of the Winter Palace hosts the exhibition “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer. Masterpieces of the Leiden Collection”, which presents about 80 works of old Dutch masters of the 17th century, including paintings by Rembrandt, works by Frans Hals and Jan Vermeer. The main body of works belongs to the American collector Thomas Kaplan and his wife Daphne Recanati-Kaplan. Their collection is unique not only for the artistic significance of the selection, but also for its history: the Leiden collection was founded only in 2003, and now it is one of the best in the world. The Village has compiled the basic facts about this remarkable phenomenon, and also compiled a compact guide to the main exhibits of the exhibition.
“The era of Rembrandt and Vermeer. Masterpieces of the Leiden Collection"
Where: State Hermitage Museum (Dvortsovaya Square, 2)
Price: 450 rubles
Collection
American businessman Thomas Kaplan has been obsessed with Dutch painting since early childhood. At the age of six, he first saw Rembrandt’s paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; at the age of nine, going with his parents to Europe, he asked to be taken to Amsterdam, because the artist was born there. In the end, he did not connect his career with art (his company invests in mining), but he did not abandon his hobby, maintaining relationships in the field of gallerists, art historians, museum workers and art critics. However, until the age of 40, Kaplan did not think about collecting. As he later said in an interview, he was sure that the works he was interested in had long been distributed among museums and were simply not available on the art market.
Geritta Dau Kaplan acquired the first work, “Portrait of Dirk van Beresteyn,” only in 2003, but then the collection grew rapidly: about 250 works, including 12 paintings by Rembrandt, were purchased in just 15 years - an insignificant period by museum standards. Kaplan achieved this result primarily due to the almost complete absence of passion: during all this time he never took personal part in auctions, acting through representatives, almost did not bargain, and made the decision to purchase a particular work in a matter of hours, thanks to which Among art dealers he has achieved a reputation as an ideal buyer.
Catalog and museum exhibitions
Initially, the Kaplan couple planned to remain anonymous; the names of the owners of the fast-growing collection remained unknown to the general public. At the same time, the works were regularly exhibited - both in a gallery specially created for this purpose and at museum exhibitions. However, at some point, Kaplan decided not just to exhibit paintings for display, but also to create one that was available for study by students and art historians. And in the future it was no longer possible to maintain anonymity. The next step was major international exhibitions, at which the Leiden collection was already presented as a complete collection: shows had already taken place in the Louvre, the National Museum of China, the Pushkin Museum, and now they had reached the Hermitage. Moreover, the exhibition in St. Petersburg is being held in its most expanded version: in addition to 82 works from the collection (the selection in Moscow was the same), it shows eight Hermitage paintings, one way or another connected with works from the Kaplan collection. In addition to the early and mature Rembrandt - the main treasures of the collection - visitors will see the works of his teacher Pieter Lastman, his friend and workshop neighbor Jan Lievens, the famous student and founder of his own school Gerrit Dau, as well as Leonardo da Vinci's drawing "Study of a Bear's Head" - a sketch which was used by the artist to create the painting “Lady with an Ermine”. The drawing, of course, has nothing to do with the Dutch and is something of a bonus at the exhibition.
Rembrandt
"The Fainting Patient" ("Allegory of Smell")
The Leiden Collection contains 12 paintings by Rembrandt, and this is almost half of all paintings by the great Dutchman that are in private hands. The most valuable work is “Minerva”, created by the artist at the age of 29 and, according to one version, painted from the young Saskia. But much more curious is the story of three early paintings from the series “Allegories of the Five Senses”: “Extraction of the Stone of Folly” (“Allegory of Touch”), “Three Musicians” (“Allegory of Hearing”) and “Fainting Patient” (“Allegory of Smell” ). The last of them became a sensation three years ago: a former collector purchased it at a small auction in New Jersey. Initially, the painting was attributed to an unknown artist; its starting price was only $800. But already in the process of preparing the auction, experts began to guess about the real authorship - and as a result, the painting was sold for 870 thousand dollars, exceeding the estimate by more than a thousand times.
Jan Lievens
"Portrait of a boy in a cloak and turban"
The second most important artist in the collection is a contemporary and friend of Rembrandt, who in her early youth shared a studio with him in Leiden - Jan Lievens. His “Portrait of a Boy in a Cloak and Turban” - an image of Prince Rupert of the Palatinate in an oriental turban with an ostrich feather and a cape fastened with a gold chain - is both a nod towards biblical scenes and a sign of fashion in the Netherlands and England at a time when active Trade with Persia developed, and the luxury of eastern embassies amazed the imagination of the Dutch.
Gerrit Dau
"Scholar Sharpening His Pen"
One of Rembrandt's most successful students, the creator of the technique of painting on miniature tablets and the founder of his own school, Gerrit Dau achieved an unsurpassed level in the art of creating miniature genre scenes from the life of ordinary Dutch people. The exhibition, for example, features his work “Scholar Sharpening a Pen”: an oval image of an old man bending over a desk with a pen and a penknife in his hand will be exhibited next to Dau’s Hermitage painting “An Old Man Examining a Globe” (also known as “ Geographer", "Astronomer" and "Heraclitus"). Both depict the same sitter, who is often called "the father of Rembrandt" as he appears numerous times in the works of Dau and many other Leiden painters.
Karel Fabricius
"Hagar and the Angel"
Carel Fabricius is another talented student of Rembrandt, a master of chiaroscuro and lyrical landscapes, who lived only 32 years and died in an explosion at a gunpowder warehouse. Only 16 of his paintings have survived throughout the world, one of which is represented in the Leiden collection. Hagar and the Angel was painted in 1645, shortly after Fabricius completed his studies with Rembrandt. His influence is more pronounced here than in later works. There is an interesting story related to the interpretation of the plot. Initially, it was believed that the painting depicts Hagar's first meeting with an angel in the desert, where she fled pregnant from Sarah's oppression. However, during one of the restorations, a darkened layer of varnish was removed on the right side of the painting, behind which a vessel with water was hidden - so it became clear that the painting depicts a later plot of Hagar’s wanderings with her son in the desert, when an angel saves Ishmael, who is dying of thirst, by bringing out him and his mother to the source.
Photos: The Leiden Collection
