Civic Pride: Dutch Group Portraits from Amsterdam

Two large-scale group portraits from the Dutch Golden Age can bee seen now at the National Gallery of Art, Washington (USA). The portraits, on long-term loan from the Rijksmuseum and the Amsterdam Museum, provide an extraordinary opportunity for visitors to enjoy a type of Dutch painting rarely seen outside the Netherlands.

In these imposing works, two of Amsterdam's most important portraitists from the mid-17th century, Govert Flinck (1615–1660) and Bartholomeus van der Helst (1613–1670), have immortalized the civic pride of the men who governed the Kloveniersdoelen, the building where one of Amsterdam's three militia companies held its meetings.

The two works, both titled Governors of the Kloveniersdoelen, were painted 13 years apart. Flinck (in 1642) and Van der Helst (in 1655) created comparable yet distinct interpretations of the shared sense of duty and personal interactions of two different generations of governors.

Date: until March 11, 2017
Location: The National Gallery of Art. 4th and Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20565. USA.
Opening hours: from Monday to Saturday from 10am am to 5pm. Sundays from 11am to 6pm.

See artwoks from the Dutch Golden Age in our Great Master's section