OLD MASTERS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 147, 23 June 1937, Page 9

OLD MASTERS

DUTCH AND FLEMISH

UNIQUE EXHIBITION

DISPLAY IN NATIONAL

GALLERY

The exhibition of Dutch and Flemish paintings, by famous ..artists of tha sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which is to be opened tomorrow in the National Art Gallery, is an event' of unusual interest and importance.' This loan collection, of between 50 and 60 pictures, will enable residents of the Dominion to see without any trouble what, under ordinary circumstances, necessitates a lengthy and expensive trip to Europe. To appreciate thesa early Flemish and Dutch ■' paintings at their full worth,' it'is .necessary to understand ■ something of the conditions under which they arose and to know something of the art of the day at that time, for such paintings represent a very distinctive phase in the history of painting. They were produced .at a time when painters were abandoning religious and allegorjcai subjects, so favoured by the famous Italian artists," and were turning their, attention to' landscapes and to objects surrounding the painters in their 'everyday life!' The artists were striking ; out. a new/ line for themselves. ■." v. ' :■'■"■ '| ■ The so-called Dutch school' of painting arose*, apparently, spontaneously; existed for a couple of centuries or so, and then passed away. In it therjs seem to have. been, lib common ideals,, certainly.'; no art .traditions, to give a< sense of unity to the immense number .of pictures produced in a little, country like Holland.' There was universal licence, each painter was a law . unto himself, he looked at the confined area within which he happened to move, and he painted'the everyday' objecis nearest to harid.' .The ..result was. a democratic art, homely,; and .generally very" pleasing.' Dutch-life f in.' thosa days, .in. spite of wars arid disturbances, was picturesque. Both parlour and inn provided picturesque -subjects; costumes, especially of the nobility, were elaborate and handsome; and .theftwas always shipping and the sea. There are many hundreds of.names connected with Dutch art of this period—so many that 'it is usual to' arrange them according—to' the subjects they treated —portraits, landscapes and sea pictures, still life, and genre subjects. Rembrandt lived and worked at Amsterdam, and in the same city many lesser artists were trained, but it is remarkable how little Rembrandt imposed his methods on; his followers. Before Rembrandt was. Franz Hals,' the . first Dutch painter" and very definitely a portrait painter, and he also had very few followers. After Rembrandt's ~ time but little portraiture was painted:- genre pain t> ings and landscapes and seascapes seemed to have had more appeal for the artists. .' ■'/ WELL VERSED IN TECHNIQUE. The training .of; each Dutch-painter was received iW the studios of other painters. Pupils Were' given work fo do on canvases upon which their masters themselves were at work. They were, allowed to fill in parts 'fit lesser importance. Hence comparatively few of these. Dutch artists produced works of importance untir they were mature. Franz Hals-is a' case in point. No work of striking merit can be attributed to him until he was over thirty years of age: until, then he was probably- working ■ for and having-his work used; by his-master*; '■./ ;."' . In this;way a full ; knowledge and use of materials and .technique were well learned. From the art of'painting on glass, in distemper arid in oils, apart from engraving, •: the • whole region of- technique was ..fully acquired. In an exhibition such as the present one, . with ;.the; originals '"to study, it is possible to learn something of the personality and being of the artist.' The brushstrokes tell their own story. In the originals, too, one can really study colour, and see how colour is mixed with" oil into transparent glazes which are placed one over the other. In reproductions this transparency is often lost: in fact, it does not reproduce. Hence the inestimable advantage of.having the actual originals to study. Wellington is lucky hi having this exhibition, and it is by no means only artsits who will derive instruction and pleasure from it. The term "old masters" -may legitimately be used in-connection with many ot the: pictures.' Even if it is qualified by the addition of the word "lesser," they do not become any the less interesting.