Rembrandt exhibition in the Hermitage. The Hermitage will show Rembrandt, Vermeer and Fabritius from the private collection of New York billionaires

The State Hermitage Museum presents masterpieces of Dutch painting from one of the world's most famous private collections of Dutch painting of the 17th century. The Leiden Collection was founded in 2003 by Thomas Kaplan and his wife Daphne Recanati-Kaplan and includes approximately 250 paintings and graphic works.

The State Hermitage Museum presents masterpieces of Dutch painting from one of the world's most famous private collections of Dutch painting of the 17th century. The Leiden Collection, named after the Dutch city where Rembrandt was born, was founded in 2003 by Thomas Kaplan and his wife Daphne Recanati-Kaplan and includes approximately 250 paintings and graphic works.

The collection was first shown to the world in 2017 at the Louvre. Then exhibitions were successfully held at the National Museum in Beijing and the Long Museum in Shanghai. In 2018, masterpieces from the Leiden Collection will be hosted in Russia by the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. Pushkin and the State Hermitage.

The Kaplan couple, passionately in love with the creations of Rembrandt and the masters of his time, managed in our days, when the creations of the geniuses of classical art have long been distributed among the largest museums and private collections with deep historical roots, to successfully implement a seemingly impossible project: to assemble from scratch a representative and diverse collection of paintings by Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Jan Vermeer of Delft and numerous chamber works by Leiden masters - representatives of the so-called fine painting (fijnschilderei).

The exhibition includes 82 works by prominent Dutch painters from the Leiden collection, including 12 paintings by Rembrandt (including works from both the early Leiden period and later), works by Frans Hals and Johannes Vermeer, as well as Rembrandt’s students (Gerrit Dau, Ferdinand Bol and Govert Flinck). The exhibition also included two magnificent drawings: “Resting Young Lion” by Rembrandt and “Head of a Bear” by Leonardo da Vinci.

The exhibition in the Hermitage is distinguished by the fact that it includes eight Hermitage masterpieces. Paintings from the school of fine painting enter into dialogue with works from the Leiden collection. Some are different variations of the same subject, such as Jakob Vrel's depiction of an elderly woman by the fireplace or Gerrit Dau's The Herring Merchant. Some of them form pairs, for example, the Hermitage painting “The Broken Egg” by Frans van Mieris the Elder, depicting a young peasant woman, probably formed a pair with “The Resting Traveler” by van Mieris the Elder from the Leiden collection. This assumption is confirmed by the size of the works and the mirror nature of the compositions. Other works also have common ground. Thus, one of the earliest paintings by Gerrit Dau - “An Old Man Examining a Globe” (also known as “Geographer”, “Astronomer”, “Heraclitus”) from the Hermitage collection - depicts an elderly man. This old sitter, conventionally called “Rembrandt’s father” in literature, is repeatedly found in the works of both Dau himself and other painters. Apparently, the same model – an old man in a wide robe and a small crown – is depicted in Dau’s oval composition “Scholar Sharpening a Pen,” which belongs to the Leiden collection.

The exhibition provides a unique opportunity to get acquainted with Dutch art of the 17th century and how this art is perceived by the Kaplan couple, whose vision made it possible to form a selection of such a high level and such amazing integrity. The fact that the works included in it will be placed in the context of the Hermitage will give this concept a second wind and will allow us to reflect on how tradition and innovation interact, on how differently polemics between artists can develop.

Visitors to the exhibition will get acquainted with the masterpieces of Rembrandt's early Leiden period from a series of allegories of the senses: “Extraction of the Stone of Folly (Allegory of Touch)”, “Three Musicians (Allegory of Hearing)” and a recent discovery - “The Fainting Patient (Allegory of Smell)”, the most the earliest of the works signed by the artist. The mature period of Rembrandt’s work, connected with long and fruitful work in Amsterdam, is represented by “Portrait of a Man in a Red Doublet”, “Girl in a Gold Embroidered Cape”, “Self-Portrait with Shadowed Eyes”. Viewers will also see the famous “Minerva”, one of the most important works of this period. This extraordinary work is the culmination of a series of similar history paintings painted by Rembrandt in the mid-1630s depicting heroic women of antiquity. “Flora”, located in the Hermitage, also belongs to this series of monumental mythological female images.

The exhibition features “Girl at the Virginal” by Johannes Vermeer of Delft, whose works are extremely rare. Only thirty-six works of the artist are known in the world, and viewers have a unique opportunity to see one of them, since the master’s creations are not represented in the collections of Russian museums. This late painting is believed to have been painted on canvas from the same roll as Vermeer's other work, The Lacemaker, which is on permanent display at the Louvre.

Haarlem painter Frans Hals is known primarily as a master of original portraits, which depict representatives of various walks of life, including merchants, clergy and military personnel, in an expressive and free manner. The exhibition will include “Portrait of Samuel Ampzing” and “Portrait of Conrad Vitor.”

A special section of the exhibition consists of paintings from the Leiden school of fine painting. These small paintings painted on wood and copper, distinguished by their special virtuosic technique and pure color, have always been the subject of keen collector's interest. The exhibited works represent a wide range of genres of Dutch painting of the 17th century. In addition to historical compositions, portraits and genre scenes, they also reflect charming animalistic compositions. The exceptionally high state of preservation of these masterpieces makes it possible to admire the technical perfection or virtuoso painting technique of the Dutch masters. The exhibition presents works by Gerrit Dau, Frans van Mieris the Elder, Gerard Terborch, Gabriel Metsu. Visitors will see the unique painting “The Appearance of the Angel Hagar”, painted by Karel Fabritius, one of only sixteen works by the artist that have survived to this day.

From September 5, 2018 to January 13, 2019, the State Hermitage presents masterpieces of Dutch painting from one of the world's most famous private collections of Dutch painting of the 17th century.

The Leiden Collection, named after the Dutch city where Rembrandt was born, was founded in 2003 by Thomas Kaplan and his wife Daphne Recanati-Kaplan and includes approximately 250 paintings and graphic works.

The collection was first shown to the world in 2017 at the Louvre

The exhibition in the Hermitage is distinguished by the fact that it includes eight Hermitage masterpieces

In the Hermitage from September 5 to January 13. The story of these New York billionaires is not Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch, but the American dream. “Sobaka.ru” talks about the largest private collection of the Dutch “golden” XVII century and its main masterpieces.

Sensation - Vermeer from private owners!

A dozen Rembrandts, one Vermeer out of only thirty-six known to the world, and the only Fabricius outside the museum walls - more than 250 works in total! For a long time, there were rumors among art historians that in fact the largest private collection of Dutch art did not exist at all - after all, with the exception of a very narrow circle of people, no one had seen it in its entirety. The Leiden collection (named after the hometown of Rembrandt, its most valuable figure) was first shown to the world by unknown collectors only last year - at an exhibition in the Louvre. This is how the coming out of both the Kaplans and their “wards” happened - and it was a sensation. The exhibition then traveled to Beijing and Shanghai. And the world tour continued in Russia - first in the Moscow Pushkin Museum, and now in the Hermitage. Of course, not everyone will come, but even a third of the paintings and drawings are enough to call the event grandiose.

Who are the Kaplans?

Investment banker and financial consulting specialist, billionaire Thomas Kaplan began collecting Dutch paintings and graphics of the “golden” 17th century in 2003 at the suggestion of his wife, granddaughter of emigrants from Russia Daphne Recanati-Kaplan (who had previously purchased furniture from European modernists), and mother-in-law, Mira Recanati, née Letichevskaya. Collecting old masters is a unique activity for modern connoisseurs of beauty, who almost universally prefer the avant-garde of the 20th century and contemporary art. After all, the works of old masters are concentrated either in the largest state museums, or belong to the rare surviving aristocratic families or families from the “old money” category.

However, the couple launched a frantic activity in a segment of the art market closed to outsiders. Thomas Kaplan recalls: “It was not unusual for us to take note and immediately buy several paintings in one day. It is not surprising that Daphne and I received the prosaic nickname “vacuum cleaners”: it reflected the devastating effect we produced. For the first five years we bought an average of one painting a week. Thanks to this pace, the Leiden collection very soon became on a par with some of those collections that Catherine II bought up, setting out to build something equivalent to the Louvre within her domain.”

What will they show in the Hermitage?

The core of the collection is two drawings and twelve paintings by Rembrandt Harmens van Rijn, with whom Thomas Kaplan, by his admission, is literally “obsessed.” And this is the largest private collection of the Leiden genius in the world! They arrived in Russia, except for the drawing “Seated Man” of 1647. Small oil on wood paintings from a series of allegories of the senses: “Extraction of the Stone of Folly (Allegory of Touch),” “Three Musicians (Allegory of Hearing),” and a recent discovery, “The Fainting Patient (Allegory of Smell).” The Amsterdam period, the mature period of Rembrandt’s work, is represented by “Portrait of a Man in a Red Doublet”, “Girl in a Cape Embroidered with Gold”, the most touching “Self-Portrait with Shadowed Eyes”, as well as the famous canvas “Minerva”, in which the Roman goddess of wisdom and war looks like a European the august person - the model was the master's wife, 23-year-old Saskia.

They also brought to the Hermitage paintings by Rembrandt’s contemporaries and compatriots, representatives of “fine painting”: his teacher Peter Lastman (the rather ominous vanitas “David and Uriah”), friend and colleague Jan Lievens, with whom he shared one workshop in Leiden - among four The presented works will include an amazing self-portrait in which Lievens is a long-haired bohemian youth, and a portrait of the Prince of the Palatinate, a teenager in a cloak and turban. It will not do without paintings by Gerrit Dau, one of the first and most famous students of the master, as well as Frans van Mieris the Elder, Gerard Terborch, Gabriel Metsu and the famous Haarlem portrait painter Frans Hals, who depicted merchants, prelates and military men.

Also in the collection is Leonardo da Vinci’s drawing “Head of a Bear”, which has nothing to do with Holland or the first bourgeois 17th century. To use Roland Barthes's term, the “punctum” (an unexpected emotional prick and decentering detail) of the feast of Northern European painting that will erupt in the Hermitage halls. And for the Kaplan couple, Leonardo’s small, hastily made masterpiece is a symbol of the eternal, always ongoing search for bewitching, frightening, never-fading beauty.

Text: Artem Langenburg

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.