FEB.SUP.VerenigingRembrandtB_ma.nov.coop/plaz.pp.corr 16/01/2015 11:55 Page 141 Dutch museum acquisitions (2010–14) supported by the Vereniging Rembrandt IN 1883, A small number of wealthy art lovers helped acquire at auction in Amsterdam some five hundred of the most important drawings from the collection of Jacob de Vos for the print room of the Rijksmuseum. It was a spectacular move, which doubled the number of drawings in the fledgling print room’s collection. It was also the beginning of what was to become an extraordinary story of private support for Dutch public art collections, for the initiative resulted in the estab- lishment of the Vereniging Rembrandt. In 1892, the Vereniging Rembrandt persuaded the state to share in the costs of buying a first Vermeer for the Rijksmus- eum, and in similar fashion it sponsored in 1900 the acquisition of the Rijksmuseum’s first Rembrandt. The early history of the Vereniging Rembrandt is very much about this matching of private and public money to collect the art of the Dutch Golden Age for Holland, but after 1914 its horizon widened to include Western European and Asian art. After 1945, it also opened up to modern art and to other cultures. In 1983, the Vereniging celebrated its centenary by supporting the acquis- ition of two recent works by Willem de Kooning for the I. Interior of the Nieuwe Kerk, Delft, with the memorial tablet of Adriaen Teding van Berk- Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. hout (1576–1620), by Hendrick Cornelisz van Vliet. 1661. Oil on canvas, 100 by 112 cm. (Museum Prinsenhof, Delft, pending final funding). Acquisition underway When the Vereniging celebrated its 125th birthday in 2008, with the support of the Vereniging Rembrandt (thanks in part to its BankGiro it had supported almost two thousand acquisitions for over 125 Loterij Aankoopfonds), donations by the public, and other funds (pending), 2015. Commissioned in 1661 by Paulus Teding van Berkhout as a portrayal of his father’s Dutch museums, ranging from the most costly, such as funerary monument still extant in the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft, this extraordinary Hieronymus Bosch’s Prodigal son for Museum Boijmans Van painting never left the family for which it was made. It is Van Vliet’s most ambi- Beuningen, Rotterdam, and Matisse’s perhaps finest paper cut- tious church interior, and it is only fair that the Delft museum, where it was on loan for over sixty years, does its utmost to acquire it. out, La perruche et la sirène, for the Stedelijk Museum, to hun- dreds of more modest but always more than locally relevant acquisitions for dozens of smaller collections. What had begun the beautiful decanter by Andries Dirk Copier (Fig.XXVIII) with support for the acquisition of a Jan van Goyen for Leiden that was bought for the museum in Leerdam, while others and two works by Hendrick Ter Brugghen for Utrecht, was might be moved by Steve McQueen’s confronting video Run- extended to the acquisition of local silver for the municipal ning Thunder (Fig.XXXV). collections of Deventer and Zutphen and a seminal group of Over the past year, thirty-five such acquisitions were sup- works by Jan Mankes for Arnhem and by Hendrik Werkman ported with over €7.5 million, and fifteen institutions and mil- for Groningen. lions of visitors to Dutch public art collections have benefited And this is still the Vereniging’s policy today: to help Dutch from this. In an extraordinary echo of its very first efforts, six- museums acquire works of art which are important to the teen of these acquisitions were drawings bought at the recent receiving collection in particular, but which also make sense in auctions of the Van Regteren Altena collection. Six print the larger landscape of Dutch public art collections. Thus, in rooms in the Netherlands were enriched with drawings 2014, the Vereniging was happy to be able to provide the lead- bought at these sales, ranging from a study by Jan van Scorel ing gift for the Bacchic figure by Adriaen de Vries (Fig.II) for the for his altarpiece in Breda to a series of drawings that Kees van Rijksmuseum, knowing well, however, that the Museum Dongen made of the festivities for Queen Wilhelmina’s wed- Prinsenhof, Delft, would take similar pride in its proposed ding in 1901. acquisition of Hendrick van Vliet’s Interior of the Nieuwe Kerk, In the following pages you will find a selection of more than Delft, with the memorial tablet of Adriaen Teding van Berkhout thirty works of art, chosen from the 118 acquisitions that were (Fig.I), and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in the very first supported by the Vereniging Rembrandt in the years 2010–14. work by Vilhelm Hammershøi to enter a Dutch museum col- To see them all, please visit www.verenigingrembrandt.nl/ lection (see pp.97–98 above). And no doubt some of the 44/de-kunst/gesteunde-kunst. Vereniging’s 11,000 members will have taken special delight in PETER HECHT the burlington magazine • clvii • february 2015 141 FEB.SUP.VerenigingRembrandtB_ma.nov.coop/plaz.pp.corr 16/01/2015 11:55 Page 142 DUTCH MUSEUM ACQUISITIONS ( 2 0 1 0 – 1 4 ) SUPPORTED BY THE VERENIGING REMBRANDT III. Crucifixion, by the studio or a follower of Hubert or Jan van Eyck. c.1440–50. Gold- and silverpoint, pen and black ink on prepared paper, 25.4 by 18.7 cm. (Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; MB 2014/T 1 (PK)). Acquired with the support of the Vereniging Rembrandt (thanks in part to its Dura Kunstfonds), the Mondriaan Fonds and VSBfonds, 2014. Picked up for a song at an estate sale in 1971, the story goes that this drawing was bought by the previous owner because of its appealing frame. Experts now agree that it is possibly by, or at least very close to, Hubert or Jan van Eyck. Although its effect is somewhat diminished by an irremovable varnish, the quality of the drawing fully justifies its acquisition by the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen’s print room. II. Bacchic figure, by Adriaen de Vries. 1626. Bronze, 109 cm. high. (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). Acquired with the support of the Vereniging Rembrandt (thanks in part to the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds), the Stichting Nationaal Fonds Kunstbezit, the BankGiro Loterij, Rijksmuseum Fonds (Frits en Phine Verhaaff Fonds, Stichting Greidanus- Formijne, Marjon Ornstein Fonds, Elles Nansink Fonds, Familie Verbeek Fonds), VSBfonds, Mondriaan Fonds, a private individual, and the Rijksmuseum International Circle, 2014. Ever since its groundbreaking exhibition devoted to Mannerism in 1955, the Rijksmuseum hoped to acquire a large sculpture by Adriaen de Vries. In vain it went after the Liechtenstein Man of sorrows, and in 1989 the J. Paul Getty Museum had the winning bid for The dancing faun. In 2011, the Rijksmuseum was ready to strike again, but the sale of the newly discovered De Vries was cancelled. When it was made available on 11th December 2014 in New York, however, the Rijksmuseum was able to acquire it for €22.5 million. Four of these were provided by the Vereniging Rembrandt, and five more by the Nationaal Fonds Kunstbezit, a national fund administered by the Vereniging. 142 february 2015 • clVii • the burlington magazine FEB.SUP.VerenigingRembrandtB_ma.nov.coop/plaz.pp.corr 16/01/2015 11:55 Page 143 DUTCH MUSEUM ACQUISITIONS ( 2 0 1 0 – 1 4 ) SUPPORTED BY THE VERENIGING REMBRANDT IV. The embalming of Christ, with St Anthony and St John the Baptist. Southern Netherlandish, possibly Bruges, c.1410–20. Oak panel, 31 by 31.9 cm. (central panel); 31 by 12.8 cm. (wings). (Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; 3723 (OK)). Acquired with the support of the Vereniging Rembrandt, the Mondriaan Fonds, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds (Breeman Talle Fonds), VSBfonds, SNS REAAL Fonds, the BankGiro Loterij and the Stichting Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, 2012. One of the highlights in the exhibition The road to Van Eyck, held in 2013 in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, was this small triptych from Bruges. Previously unpublished, it is one of some thirty panel paintings from the region pre-dating the work of Van Eyck, and the Museum was keen to acquire it. And it has indeed now joined the similarly early Norfolk triptych, as well as the only work by Van Eyck in a Dutch public collection. V. Jacob leaving Laban, by Cornelis Cornelisz Buys II. c.1535. Oil on panel, 94.1 by 108.9 cm. (Stedelijk Museum, Alkmaar; 30654). Acquired with the support of private individuals, the Vereniging Rembrandt (thanks in part to its BankGiro Loterij Aankoopfonds, the Stortenbeker Fonds and its Themafonds Middeleeuwen), and VSBfonds, 2013. Little remains of the art produced in Alkmaar before the Iconoclasm of 1566, and when an important work by its leading master Buys appeared on the market, the municipal museum showed great interest in it. Sharing this enthusiasm, two private collectors offered to pay half of the €650,000 needed, which attracted other sponsorship, and brought this fascinating example of Dutch Renaissance painting back to its place of origin. VI. The Creation and Fall (one of three tapestries from a series depicting the Salvation of Mankind), by the workshop of Pieter van Aelst (van Edinge). c.1500–10. Tapestry, c.400 by c.800 cm. (Kasteel de Haar, Haarzuilens; 03345). Acquired with the support of the Vereniging Rembrandt (thanks in part to its Utrecht Rembrandtcirkel and its Nationaal Fonds 1930), the Stichting Nationaal Fonds Kunstbezit, the BankGiro Loterij, the Mondriaan Fonds, VSBfonds, SNS REAAL Fonds, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, K.F. Heinfonds, M.A.O.C. Gravin van Bylandt Stichting, and the Province and the Municipality of Utrecht, 2012.