A special collection of Dutch paintings is now on exhibition at the Fogg Art Museum. Mr. Henry Goldman, of New York, has loaned eight fine Dutch pictures. The two most important of these are an oil painting by Rembrandt and one by Franz Hals. There is also an excellent Van Ostade of a group of peasants playing cards, illustrating well the remarkable skill of the Dutch masters of that period in genre painting. Five small pictures representing the five senses, by David Teniers, the Younger, all signed by the master, are good examples of his work.
The splendid and spirited Franz Hals gives an excellent idea of the work of that great master. It is a half-length portrait of a well-to-do substantial Dutchman, seated, and is signed in the centre with a monogram and inscribed with the age of the sitter and dated Anno. 1637. This picture was formerly in the collection of Sir Edgar Vincent, and was exhibited in the Grafton Galleries in 1911. The brilliancy of the artist's brush work is particularly noticeable in his handling of the collar and the sleeves of his genial sitter.
Next to this picture hangs the Saint Bartholomew of Rembrandt, signed and dated 1657. It is a splendidly rich piece of Rembrandt coloring and represents a thoughtful man seated in an armchair, gazing in a pensive and almost melancholy manner into the distance. The history of this superb painting can be traced back without interruption to the time of the famous Empress Catharine of Russia. This Bartholomew picture was known for a time in Russia as the "Troubetzkoy Rembrandt."
Students of the University and the public who visit the Fogg Museum are thus given a rare opportunity of seeing unusually fine examples of Rembrandt and Franz Hals beside the Van Dyck portrait of Nicholas Triest, which belongs to the Fogg Museum.
Portrait by Student of Bellini.
Two Venetian pictures have also been received as loans. Mr. Goldman has loaned a Portrait of a Young Man, attributed to Girolamo da Santa Croce, one of the pupils of Bellini. This picture was exhibited in the Fogg Museum in the loan exhibition of Italian paintings a year ago. It is an excellent example of Venetian portrait painting of that time. The second Venetian picture is the beautiful unfinished Diana by Tintoretto, once in the collection of Ruskin, which was loaned to the Fogg Museum earlier this year.
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