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MAURITSHUIS THYSSEN-BORNEMISZA A Love Story Between Two Museums

thyssen–bornemisza & mauritshuis

FOREWORD

Martine Gosselink & Guillermo Solana

SHORT STORIES 18

Karin Amatmoekrim on Lucas Cranach the Elder

Hanna Bervoets on Palma Vecchio

Gershwin Bonevacia on El Greco

Sacha Bronwasser on Jan van Eyck

Rob van Essen on Agnolo Bronzino

Radna Fabias on Petrus Christus

Laura Ferrero on Pieter de Hooch

Espido Freire on Gerard ter Borch

Lieke Knijnenburg on Michael Sweerts

Tobi Lakmaker on Piero della Francesca

Sara Mesa on Pieter Claesz

Lara Moreno on Gerrit Dou

Antonio Muñoz Molina on Johannes Vermeer

Bert Natter on Sebastiano del Piombo

CATALOGUE 85

Tahrim Ramdjan on Hendrick ter Brugghen

Marta Sanz on Rembrandt

Juan Tallón on Hendrick Avercamp

100

Jesús Terrés on Adriaen Coorte

104

David Uclés on Jan Steen

109

Gabriela Wiener on Jan Brueghel the Elder and Peter Paul Rubens

117

Museo Nacional ThyssenBornemisza Collection: 25 paintings

176

Mauritshuis Collection: 25 paintings

thyssen–bornemisza & mauritshuis

Love embraces differences and opens our eyes to what we have in common. The Mauritshuis and Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum are both relatively small, but they have world-class collections. They look after artworks that are among the best Europe has produced. And if you love something, you want to share it. I look forward to the sparks flying for the museums and their visitors alike, in the name of art and love.

The best ideas often stand out for their simplicity. Think of the paperclip, or the suitcase on wheels. The latter was only invented around 1970; today, it’s hard to imagine life without it, although many inner-city residents would hardly miss its clattering wheels. That seductive simplicity also characterises the concept of the exchange exhibition: the simultaneous exchange of masterpieces from the collections of two fantastic museums, a world first. Twenty-five masterpieces from Spain will come to the Netherlands, while twenty-five masterpieces from the Dutch national collection will stay in Madrid for the same period – an idea that was born when two museums gazed deep into each other’s eyes. Directors Guillermo Solana and Martine Gosselink describe it as a spark being lit, hence the exhibition’s fitting name: Thyssen-Bornemisza ♥ Mauritshuis. It’s nothing short of a love affair.

Rianne Letschert Minister of Education, Culture and Science, the Netherlands

The wonderful thing about love is that the more you share it, the more there is. Every visitor to The Hague and Madrid will be a party to the love. In the Mauritshuis, face to face with masterpieces by Albrecht Dürer, Agnolo Bronzino and Piero della Francesca, among others, the names alone make your heart beat faster. And what will happen when the visitor in Madrid sees Johannes Vermeer’s View of Delft? Marcel Proust’s encounter with this work in 1902 was so overwhelming that he decided to have one of his fictional characters die in front of this cityscape, which he believed to be ‘the most beautiful painting in the world’.

thyssen–bornemisza & mauritshuis

Dialogue between museums always yields unique and significant results, such as the exhibition we are now presenting in Madrid, the result of collaboration between the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Mauritshuis in The Hague. Designed as a simultaneous exchange of twenty-five works between the two institutions, the exhibition brings a superb selection of masterpieces from the Netherlands to the classical rooms of the Madrid museum. The collection of seventeenth-century Dutch painting is one of the highlights of the Museo Thyssen, and its appeal has been further enhanced by the loans from the Mauritshuis. A theme-based presentation has been chosen, encompassing four major painting genres – still lifes, interiors, landscapes and portraits – and artists such as Ambrosius Bosschaert, Frans Hals, Pieter Claesz, Rembrandt, Jan Steen and Jacob van Ruisdael. An exceptional work featured in the exhibition is Johannes Vermeer’s View of Delft, dated to the early 1660s, which has rarely been shown outside the Mauritshuis. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the directors of the two museums involved, Martine Gosselink and Guillermo Solana, for reaffirming their commitment to promoting cultural heritage and for their collaboration, always for the benefit of the public. Thanks are likewise due to all the staff at the Museo Nacional ThyssenBornemisza for their constant effort, dedication and professionalism.

Ernest Urtasun Domènech Minister of Culture, Spain

mauritshuis & thyssen–bornemisza

foreword mauritshuis thyssen-bornemisza a love story between two museums

implicitly and share the same deep love for their profession: art.

Guillermo Solana: This exhibition came about after a phone call from you, Martine. You asked me what I thought about the idea of exchanging and simultaneously displaying a large number of masterpieces from our respective collections, a proposal I enthusiastically welcomed because, as far as I know, this has never been done anywhere in the world.

MG: During our initial visits to Madrid and the online discussions that followed, we certainly felt that implicit sense of trust. As we explored the project in greater detail, we concluded that this simultaneous exchange between Madrid and The Hague should show artworks ranking amongst the finest the continent of Europe has produced.

Martine Gosselink: Your reaction was indeed spontaneous and positive. I thought you’d want to think about it for a while, but in fact, during that first phone call, you immediately said, ‘Yes, let’s do it’, and all I could think was that this was a match made in heaven.

GS: But there is yet more that connects us! Behind this spontaneous convergence lies a long history. In 1919, Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza and his Hungarian wife, Baroness Margit Bornemisza de Kászon et Impérfalva, escaped the Hungarian Revolution and fled to The Hague. There, Heinrich took over the management of the family’s businesses in the Netherlands. Although the core of the Thyssen family’s investments lay in

GS: Exactly, because when do two museums in two different European countries – one in northern Europe, the other in the south – work together in such a unique way? Something like that only happens when they trust each other

mauritshuis & thyssen–bornemisza

the Thyssen family’s love of the Dutch and Flemish masters – exactly what we’re going to showcase in our museum.

Rotterdam, The Hague – as the seat of the royal family and the government – was the ideal city for the barons. This location was convenient, too, because there was a tram service, later joined by a train service, between Rotterdam and Wassenaar via Scheveningen, as all those Rotterdam port magnates wanted to live surrounded by country air.

While we were exchanging our wish lists, something special happened. You granted everything the Mauritshuis asked to borrow, and we did the same for you. We were absolutely delighted. And, judging by the responses of the curators on the other side of the screen, you were too.

Heinrich settled in Scheveningen in a splendid three-storey house with a tennis court and lots of trees. In 1921, their fourth and final child, Hans Heinrich ThyssenBornemisza, or ‘Heini’, was born there. The elder Heinrich began collecting art the same year. His passion for painting grew from his frequent visits to the Mauritshuis, which inspired his first purchases, from art and antiques dealers Mulder and Hageraats & Zoon.

As we watched all twenty-five selected paintings from your collection scroll past on our laptops, the feeling of gratitude was palpable. That’s how we quickly responded with ‘love’ as a theme for this project – a love of European art, a love of the institutions that have spent so many years, in some cases centuries, ensuring these masterpieces are protected, cherished and studied, maintained, repaired and restored. From the very moment our two museums began talking about this exchange, a spark was ignited.

In 1930, Munich’s Neue Pinakothek held the first exhibition of the ThyssenBornemisza collection. The catalogue featured 428 paintings, of which more than a third (174) were by Flemish and Dutch painters, while only 79 were by Italian painters and 58 by German painters. Nearly thirty years later, in 1959, a significant part of the ThyssenBornemisza collection was exhibited in the Netherlands when the Museum Boymans (now the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen) in Rotterdam hosted an exhibition displaying 110 European masterpieces from the core collection, then housed at Schloss Rohoncz, Rechnitz.

GS: Yes, there was certainly a spark! We have quite a lot in common, actually. Both are relatively small museums with world-class collections born out of the passion for painting by two art collectors, stadholder Willem V in The Hague and Heinrich Thyssen in Madrid, and both began as private collections that were later opened to the public. Driven by an intense and shared love for the paintings, we have entrusted our fragile works to one another. This is a love not only expressed in the meticulous care for these centuries-old works, but also in the gathering and sharing of knowledge about them. Let’s spread the word – love is in the air! – and enjoy each other’s

MG: The Thyssen family’s connection with The Hague, Scheveningen and the Mauritshuis calls for a trip to their former home. When you’re here again, let’s go and take a look. And yes, there is also

mauritshuis & thyssen–bornemisza

1 — Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid.

deep longing causing pain – the sorrow of a lost or forbidden love.

paintings. Our visitors will be able to fall in love, as it were, with works they will see in The Hague or Madrid for the first time. Or, just as conceivably, it will feel like bumping into an old flame again…

GS: That’s why I thought it was the perfect idea to ask ten authors each from the Netherlands and Spain to write stories on the theme of love to accompany our paintings. We read about love that is reciprocated or perhaps rejected; about wonder and a sense of safety; about jealousy or the uncertainty associated with same-sex attraction; about the sorrow that is felt when families and friendships fall apart; or the joy of those who are reunited. Because love isn’t only found in romantic relationships, there is also love for animals, children, parents, friends, neighbours and colleagues. Or think of the love that people feel for material things: clothing, hobbies, homes, gardens, and paintings, of course!

MG: With the theme of love, I hope that these extraordinarily beautiful paintings will not only bring about a dialogue between our two museums and countries but also between the paintings and our visitors, individuals who will no doubt experience all kinds of emotions. That won’t be too hard, I think, because people feature in every painting: alone, in pairs or in groups. They’ll inspire different ideas in everyone because love is complex. It can bring joy through connection, recognition and intimacy, but it’s also double-edged: it can be a

mauritshuis & thyssen–bornemisza

2 — Mauritshuis, The Hague.

MG: We told the authors they could explore subjects such as the painter’s love of materials, colours and textures, or the themes depicted, or an owner’s connection to a work. In any case, the twenty writers made a wonderful job of the task. The result is a rich collection of texts on love, covering topics such as the bygone love for an ex, whether someone is worthy of love, feeling jealous of a happy couple, and further. In Lucas van Leyden’s card players (cat. 17), for example, I see humankind’s age-old love for the element of play: homo ludens. There is perhaps nothing more universal than that.

I can’t imagine that I’m the only Dutch person who’d love to see your collection here.

In mentioning jealousy , did you know that the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection was once offered for sale in the Netherlands?

MG: All credit to Spain and Madrid, but I do think it’s a pity our government in The Hague at the time wasn’t able to secure

GS: Indeed, in the late 1980s, Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, who further expanded his father’s art collection, embarked on a search for a permanent home for his world-famous private collection. Amongst several countries, the Netherlands emerged as a serious contender. But as it were, Spain made a better offer, and the Spanish state eventually acquired the 775 works in 1993, which now form the core of the Museo Nacional Th yssen-Bornemisza in Madrid.

mauritshuis & thyssen–bornemisza

3 — Willem van Haecht, Apelles painting Campaspe, c. 1630. Oil on panel, 104.9 × 148.7. Mauritshuis.

GS: The collection would have indeed been well-placed in the Netherlands, as it includes many works by artists not represented in Dutch museums. And that gives extra significance to this unique, simultaneous exchange between our museums.

the collection for the future benefit of the people of the Netherlands and their visitors. From a historical perspective, the Netherlands would have also been a logical choice, as Baron Thyssen was born in Scheveningen. Did you know that the Thyssen family were bankers to the Netherlands’ Queen Wilhelmina? She was their client at the Bank voor Handel en Scheepvaart in Rotterdam. The Thyssen family amassed its fortune around 1900 through the enterprises of the steel magnate and banker August Thyssen and the further expansion of his empire in the twentieth century. For many years, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Group, which is still one of Germany’s most influential multinational companies, had a branch in Amstelveen, the Netherlands.

What we have yet to mention, by the way, is that there is a very deep connection between two paintings from our collections. One leads to the other, as you might say. I’m talking about our Sebastiano del Piombo (cat. 20), which can be seen in your painting by Willem van Haecht (fig. 3). Van Haecht (1593– 1637) of Antwerp was not only a painter but also the curator of Cornelis van der Geest’s (1555–1638) art collection. Some of his paintings are depicted here.

mauritshuis & thyssen–bornemisza

4 — Apelles painting Campaspe, detail.

5 — Sebastiano del Piombo, Portrait of Ferry Carondelet with his Secretaries (cat. 20).

But in this art collection, we can also see works by Italian painters that were certainly not in Antwerp. The painting by Del Piombo was in fact in Antwerp, but it wasn’t part of Van der Geest’s collection. It remained in an Antwerp collection until 1617 or 1618 , whereupon it was acquired by the English collector Thomas Howard. Whatever the case, it’s fantastic that our painting can be seen in one of yours.

I also wanted to ask. Did you know that Baron Thyssen made a significant contribution to the acquisition of two of our paintings, a flower still life by Jan Davidszoon de Heem and a woodland landscape by Meindert Hobbema? In our archives, we found a photograph of the Baron in front of De Heem’s painting in the Golden Room. Another remarkable fact is that Baron Thyssen was honorary chair of the Friends of the Mauritshuis Foundation. Our chief curator sent me the following piece from the 1995 issue of Mauritshuis Magazine:

MG: We’re going to display them side by side. How special to have Sebastiano del Piombo in the Mauritshuis. Del Piombo was revered as a great master during his lifetime, similar to Titian, Raphael and Michelangelo, but after his death, it was his contemporaries who were remembered.

On 31 March [1995], Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza received the insignia of Commander of the Order of OrangeNassau from the Dutch ambassador to Madrid, Baron Bentinck van Schoonheten,

mauritshuis & thyssen–bornemisza

6 — Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, room 9.

by Francisco de Zurbarán, which sadly wasn’t available because it had been promised to another museum, Piero della Francesca’s Portrait of a Boy (cat. 13) and Michael Sweerts’s Boy in a Turban Holding a Nosegay (cat. 23). It’s always been a wish of mine to see this work displayed alongside Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring and then to look, look, look – until the sparks fly.

for his ‘many services to the Netherlands in the field of trade and the arts’. This year, for example, Rotterdam City Council had the opportunity to rebuild the Delftse Poort using funds provided by the baron. The Mauritshuis also received considerable sums towards the acquisition of Hobbema’s ‘Wooded landscape with cottages’ and De Heem’s ‘Vase of flowers’. GS: I didn’t know that. It just goes to show that the bond between our museums goes even deeper than we thought!

GS: I’m pretty sure that’s going to happen. But didn’t you say that they wouldn’t be displayed side by side in the exhibition?

What’s your favourite piece in our collection?

MG: That’s right. Unfortunately, it isn‘t practical for us to show Boy in a Turban Holding a Nosegay and Girl with a Pearl Earring together in the exhibition room because the volume of visitors would

MG: That’s tough. Have you got a moment? Christ Among the Doctors (cat. 9) by Albrecht Dürer, Saint Casilda

mauritshuis & thyssen–bornemisza

7 — Mauritshuis, room 15.

overwhelm our building. Instead, the two will be brought together with Girl with a Pearl Earring displayed virtually. And what’s your favourite work in the Mauritshuis? GS: No one will be surprised to hear that my favourite is Vermeer’s View of Delft (cat. 49). The experience of standing face to face with this painting cannot be put into words. But if I were to choose a second favourite, it would be The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man (cat. 33) by Jan Breughel and Rubens. Without doubt, a magnificent masterpiece. I can’t wait to welcome these paintings to Madrid and to see them on display here. A match made in heaven, indeed…

thyssen-bornemisza & mauritshuis

short stories

Love is universal, yet elusive — everyone experiences it differently. It can bring joy through connection, recognition and intimacy but also carries quiet paradoxes: the pain of longing or loss, and the confusion of forbidden desire. On the occasion of this special exchange exhibition, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Mauritshuis each invited ten authors to write a story inspired by the theme of love, based on one of the exhibition’s paintings. The Dutch authors each selected a work from Madrid, while the Spanish writers drew inspiration from a painting in the Mauritshuis. The result is twenty stories about love, beginning with a shared love of art, and exploring love in all its manifestations.

thyssen-bornemisza & mauritshuis

lucas cranach the elder nymph at a fountain

a perfect existence karin amatmoekrim

fontis nympha sacri somnum / ne rumpe quiesco (I, the nymph of the sacred fountain, am resting, do not disturb my sleep) One morning, when the sun seemed to linger behind the horizon for an indecently long time, Anna awoke from a dream that was bothering her in some indefinable way. She lay there for a moment with her eyes closed, her mind searching for the cause of the feeling, like a person feeling around their mouth with their tongue, trying to locate a disturbing irregularity. She found nothing, and so the feeling did not leave her. She stood up and stretched; as she walked leisurely to the bathroom, she was aware, as she always was, of her naked body. She inspected her slightly sleep-puffed face in the mirror, the frame flecked grey-brown from the salty air that made its way in through the cracks of the house, ran her fingers through her hair, and stepped into the shower. Anna, it was said in the coastal village when she was born and where she still lived, was a woman you had to be careful of. She had large, almondshaped eyes and long black hair. By day, her skin seemed to be made out of some copper-like material, but by evening, once the sun had set, she was black, dark as the night. She held a mystical attraction for both men and women but not for children. They hid shyly when they saw her, as though she were imbued with a primeval fear long forgotten by adults. The villagers had little to do besides maintain a long tradition of fishing and a somewhat more recent and gentle sort of tourism by people lured by the sleepy tranquillity, the warm, humid climate of the tropics, and the calming view of the sea. The idle evenings in the village were spent on gossip and slander, with Anna being a favourite topic, passed between the villagers over a glass of rum at the heavy wooden counter of the old bar, like a ball game for lazy players. You had to be careful of her, people whispered to one other. Anyone who gets too close to her risks getting burned. Or worse, losing themselves. Who could forget what happened to the poor skipper’s son? The boy, barely an adult, had lost his heart after a night with her (said the romantics among the gossipers), or had succumbed to her toxic personality (according to the pessimists), or was a classic idiot who had lost

short stories

his mind to the first pussy he tasted (there were also cynics in the village). Whatever the case, the skipper’s son had kept circling the woman like a bird that cannot reach its nest, hoping to see a spark of desire, or in any case, some affection, flare up once more in her almond-shaped eyes. But after that night, she had turned from him in boredom, saying she was no longer interested in him, and then, that she found him annoying and perhaps even unexciting, and when her words failed to deter him, and he kept turning up at her house with his entreaties, day after day, his face contorted with despair – never an attractive sight, to be fair – she ignored him; so skilfully, indeed, that the poor boy actually began to believe he was invisible and that if he did not exist to the one person who mattered to him in all the world, perhaps he did not exist at all. He became a shadow of himself, a mumbling figure shuffling shyly by the walls of houses, lingering in shadows before eventually vanishing altogether. That is to say, perhaps he was still there, but since no one saw him anymore, he no longer existed, except in the warning that the villagers constantly passed between themselves: one had to maintain a proper distance when dealing with Anna. After her shower, Anna put on the simple linen dress that lay over the chair in her bedroom. She tied her hair in a ponytail and rubbed a mix of softly scented oil and salve on her face. She walked out of her house, onto the beach. She had yet to shake off the nebulous feeling that had hung over her since waking and hoped that a stroll by the breakers would help. After walking north for half an hour, she turned and followed her footsteps back. Shortly before the trail parted from the shoreline, leading back to the house beyond the beach, she sank onto the sand to rest a little and think about her dream, which had yet to leave her (nor had it revealed itself beyond the feeling that remained in her like a residue). Sitting on the sand, her knees drawn up, she enjoyed the wind that softly caressed her face. Her gaze followed a bird flying overhead, tumbling through the morning light in search of food or a mate. The villagers might think that she was dangerous or scary or mad; for her part, Anna did not think about the villagers at all. She lived as though she were dreaming, and her surroundings were a soft universe that played out in dimmed light. She viewed the world as though through half-closed eyes, and life felt like a necessity that had to be endured as comfortably as possible. She read books that lulled her and that never whetted her curiosity for anything else or anything unfamiliar. When she was hungry, she ate with great concentration only the things she liked, never anything that she couldn’t stand, and she drank in the same way, sweet tea during the day and cherry wine in the evening. She slept with men and sometimes with a woman, but only when she felt like it, and the urge to do so was invariably