Former director of the Mauritshuis Abraham Bredius (dir. 1889-1909), a leading Rembrandt expert, wrote of the painting in 1913, ‘The crowning glory of all that we saw was The Frick Collection. What a joy it was to see again Lord Ilchester’s Rembrandt Self-portrait, the self-portrait of the master, that almost more-than-life-sized portrait of the painter, seated, his right hand resting on a stick, regarding us with an expression denoting a truly deserved sense of self-worth, such as to make one fall silent; “every inch a king”, I once wrote of it.’
A dream Rembrandt
Of the ten paintings in the exhibition, Rembrandt’s 1658 Self-portrait will be the absolute highlight. This masterpiece will be the largest work in the exhibition (134 x 104 cm), and is the most impressive of the 40-plus self-portraits Rembrandt painted during his career. Rembrandt made this self-portrait when he was 52, at a time when he was experiencing many setbacks, having been declared bankrupt two years earlier and forced to sell his own collection and the contents of his home, and then to move house. The master depicted himself in old-fashioned, 16th-century attire, to which some oriental motifs have been added. Rembrandt thus presents himself as a celebrated painter of the past. There is no painter’s cap or palette, but the lustrous gold fabric of his robe was no coincidental choice. Rembrandt will undoubtedly have read in Karel van Mander’s famous Schilder-Boeck (‘The Book of Painters’) of 1604 how famous 16th-century painters like Jan Gossaert and Lucas van Leyden dressed in gold robes as a sign of their high status.
Two leading international collections
The Frick Collection and the Mauritshuis have had close ties for many years. In 2013, when the Mauritshuis was closed for renovations, it loaned fifteen top items from its collection to The Frick Collection, including Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring and Carel Fabritius’ The Goldfinch. In 2015 a group of 36 items from The Frick Collection crossed the Atlantic for an exhibition at the Mauritshuis: The Frick Collection – Art Treasures from New York. The group not only included paintings, but also drawings, sculptures and decorative art objects, all of which were acquired for the collection after Henry Clay Frick’s death. This year, the museum will have the opportunity to show ten top items from The Frick Collection that were purchased in the collector’s lifetime. The Mauritshuis was allowed to choose from the Dutch paintings in this world-famous museum. Nine of the items chosen have not been shown in Europe since they were shipped to America more than a century ago.
Supporters
The exhibition Manhattan Masters has been made possible by the generous support of: American Friends of the Mauritshuis, Johan Maurits Compagnie Foundation, Friends of the Mauritshuis Foundation, Turing Foundation, Mondriaan Fund, Marjon Ornstein Fund, The Netherland-America Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies.
This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.
