There is something unique about Old Masters - despite being three to four-hundred-years old they fit in almost any interior. They are just as suitable hanging next to an eighteenth-century writing desk as above a piece of modern-design furniture. Present and past came together recently in a most unusual way when one of our Old Masters acquired a place in an ultra-modern environment.
Wandering along Amsterdam's canals you come upon a steel-frame canal house at Nieuwe Herengracht 115. It was designed by the Amsterdam architect Tjaarda Mees between 1994 and 1998 and built on a site that had lain empty for fifty years. Previous attempts by other architects to fill the gap in the street-face had come to nothing, largely because the available space was only four meters wide. The land-use plan, however, authorised a five-storey building, a basement and a roof-structure, which made it possible to realise an acceptable building volume. In total the 'mini-skyscraper' is 17 m high.
Mees actually approached the design of this seven-storey building from the inside out, using a steel-frame construction with steel-plate reinforced concrete floors to make the building possible. The structure is clearly visible in the interior of the building - the absence of lowered ceilings exposing the steel-plate reinforced floors. A galvanised spiral staircase rises from the ground floor to the roof terrace. At the heart of the building a hydraulic lift ascends to the fifth floor. Mees has also been involved in the design of the interior: revolving bookcases provide a small room with plenty of book space, and the design of the kitchen/dining room is both beautiful and ingenious.
To grace this highly modern house, the owners sought a picture that would fit both the interior and their budget. A contemporary artwork would have been the obvious choice. But the owners wanted something special, something that would create a striking accent in the room. This was the challenge they presented us with.
The choice finally fell on a seventeenth-century picture from the Utrecht School by Johannes Moreelse. A fantasy portrait, a so-called tronie, depicting the Greek tyrant Periander who ruled Corinth from 627 to 585 BC, bringing great economic and cultural prosperity to his country.
Past and present came together the moment the picture was hung on the wall. The painting's dominant white and grey tones were echoed in the steel interior. Even the austere rosewood frame, after a seventeenth-century model, matched the straight lines of the steel structure. The deep red brought a warm and welcome touch of colour to the room. Client and art dealer were delighted. But what would the architect think?
Fortunately Mees was delighted with the choice. After all, as he says, an antique bible would not be out of place in a modern bookcase by Philip Starck. This view also tallies with Mees's ideas on building in an existing environment. He rejects the idea of building in an historical way for the sake of supposed harmonious integration, and feels that his design has served to add diversity to the Amsterdam street-face. He also sees it as a bonus that a seventeenth-century painting should now be gracing his interior.
One of the storeys of the building is occupied by Richter Fish Antiques, where you can admire antiquarian books and antique prints and porcelain, on a fish theme. If you would like to visit this antiquarian book shop and experience the combination of an Old Master and a contemporary steel-frame canal house, you can ring and make an appointment.
JH