trainertaya.blogg.se

Two years his elder, she was the orphan daughter of an old and respected Amsterdam family whose circle also included patrons of the young Rembrandt.

Maerten Soolmans married Oopjen Coppit (1611-1689) in 1633. Emerging from this transformation, a new class of wealthy and affluent citizenry was eager to have its likeness - adorned with the trappings of success - recorded in paint for posterity. In a climate of religious tolerance and intellectual freedom, art, literature and science flourished. In the first decades of the 17th century, Holland, the small Republic which was born out of the secession from its Spanish Catholic rulers, experienced a period of unparalleled prosperity, becoming one of the main economic centres of the Western world. In 1634, the year Rembrandt completed the portraits of Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit, he was, at the age of only 28, the most fashionable portrait painter in Amsterdam. ‘It is a testament to the vision shown by the French Republic, the Louvre, the State of the Netherlands and the Rijksmuseum that these two great Rembrandt van Rijn portraits will now take their place among the greatest works of art in the heart of Europe, to be appreciated for many generations to come.’ ‘To have played our part in this historic sale of these magnificent masterpieces from such a prestigious private collection is a fitting start to this 250th anniversary year for Christie’s,’ said Patricia Barbizet, the company’s Chief Executive Officer. ‘These two great Rembrandt van Rijn portraits will now take their place among the greatest works of art, in the heart of Europe, to be appreciated for many generations to come’ As a result, they are the least known masterpieces in Rembrandt’s oeuvre. The portraits entered the prestigious Rothschild collection in 1878 and were last exhibited publicly in 1956, in the Netherlands. The joint acquisition of the portraits by the two nations for allocation to the museums, in a deal negotiated by Christie’s, is the first of its kind. They are due to be exhibited publicly for the first time in 60 years at the Louvre in Paris in a few weeks’ time.