The Hague, 4 October 2007
This autumn can justifiably be called the autumn of the portrait. In The Hague this November and December Kunsthandel Hoogsteder & Hoogsteder presents a remarkable selection of Dutch portraiture of the Golden Age. Opposite the gallery, on the other side of Hofvijver, the Mauritshuis is showing the finest seventeenth-century portraits from museums across the world. What makes this Hoogsteder & Hoogsteder exhibition so special is that after 350 years, it is still possible to purchase magnificent portraits.
Portraiture is the most immediate and engaging form of art. The challenge for seventeenth-century painters was to convey a realistic impression of mood or emotion. Naturally, the principal task was to capture the subject’s appearance; but for the great artists of the day the aim was above all to reveal the person’s inner self. This tension between personality and appearance, between what the subject looks like and what is happening inside, is what puts portraiture on the cutting edge of art. Which is precisely what the portraits presented by Kunsthandel Hoogsteder & Hoogsteder show.
It is quite unique that this art gallery is able to offer paintings of museum quality in the relatively low price category of between 25,000 and 125,000 euros. No Rembrandts for 20 million at Hoogsteder & Hoogsteder. Instead a selection of portraits, including some by artists who, surprisingly, are also represented in the Mauritshuis: Nicolaes Maes, Michiel van Mierevelt and Nicolaes Pickenoy.
Kunsthandel Hoogsteder & Hoogsteder presents these 25 portraits together with 25 other paintings ranging from marines, still lifes, landscapes, genre pieces to townscapes. These place the portraits in their seventeenth-century context, and enhance the viewing experience all the more.
Kunsthandel Hoogsteder & Hoogsteder
Autumn Sale
25 Museum Quality Portraits & 25 Other Old Master Paintings
29 October - 21 December 2007; Open Mon-Fri 11.00 - 17.00
Lange Vijverberg 15, The Hague
+31 (0)70 3615575info@hoogsteder.com