Southern neighbours at the Mauritshuis: you'll never look at portraits the same again

You know that? That sometimes you look at the caption longer than at the painting? And then especially at who the artist is, because we don't usually know the person portrayed anyway? The Flemish portraits in the exhibition Zuiderburen at the Mauritshuis intelligently turn that around. But first, more about the Mauritshuis' extensive collaboration with the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA).

It is almost becoming the Empire of Flanders: the KMSKA has been closed for major renovation since 2011. 'There have been many times to the building we in Flanders call bricoloured', says director Manfred Sellink, 'but a master plan was now needed for both technology and infrastructure.'

A closed museum also offers opportunities. Under the motto "Close but close", KSMKA exhibits pieces across the country and abroad. Sellink: "Travelling exhibitions force a museum to look again at its own collection.

Fifteenth to seventeenth century

The exhibition at the Mauritshuis is a case in point. Together with Katlijne Van der Stighelen of KU Leuven, the two museums selected a series of portraits at the highest level. Portraits that also show quite a long development: from 15th-century works to 17th-century ones.

Pavlovian, I immediately thought: 'Ah, the artist. But how crazy that I don't know any artist!'

All but four works from the Mauritshuis collection and one from the Rijksmuseum are from Antwerp. On display together in the Mauritshuis exhibition space, at the technical installations of which were also "bricolaged" during the summer. But you don't see any of that as a visitor.

Intimate design

The exhibition hall is intimately decorated by Jelena Stefanovic, previously responsible for, among other things, the mirror design of Dutch self-portraits in the same museum. Above each portrait clearly readable a name. Pavlovian, I immediately thought, 'Ah, the artist. But how crazy that I don't know any of the artists!' So the names are those of the people portrayed.

And that is how this exhibition wants visitors to look: at the portrayed. From the strong-willed but opportunistic Philippe de Croy to the modest though rich and powerful Nicolaas Rockox and his wife. To find out who the artist is, you have to peek at the sign.

Then you read, for instance, why the person portrayed hired this particular painter, and why the artist portrayed his object in exactly that way. It takes you back to the time when the portrait was made - and when the person portrayed was usually more famous than the painter. That is different now, as the artists represented include Quinten Massijs, Hans Memling, Jacob Jordaens and Anthony van Dyck.

Restoration

One portrait deserves special attention. By far the most striking headline, Portrait of Abraham Grapheus (photo in header), was not commissioned by the person portrayed. Painter Cornelis de Vos made this effigy of the caretaker of the Antwerp St Luke's guild of artists on his own initiative and offered it for the guild room. It always remained in Antwerp, except for a trip to Paris during the French occupation. The guild silver also pictured did not survive that trip: it was melted down.

De Vos wanted to show off his versatility to famous guild colleagues

Claire Toussat of KMSKA restored the work especially for this exhibition. Under a lot of brown varnish, it was found to be in near-perfect condition. De Vos alternated very fine painting techniques with rougher brushstrokes, presumably to show his versatility to famous guild colleagues like Jordaens.

Calvary in Galerie Willem V

In total, the exhibition features twenty-four portraits from the period 1400-1700. Twenty-four encounters with southern neighbours from the past. Meanwhile, the collaboration continues: from 9 November to 7 January 2018, the The Calvary of Antonello da Messina from Antwerp to Gallery William V. This little sister of the Mauritshuis shows an international masterpiece on loan every autumn.

Right now already, Jan Steen's rendition of the proverb has As the old sang, the young squealed temporarily accompanied by a work from Antwerp with the same theme by Jacob Jordaens.

Breugel in Antwerp

Whether the Mauritshuis will soon also lend work to Antwerp, director Emilie Gordenker cannot yet say: 'The KMSKA's opening exhibition after the renovation will be Bruegel. There are no plans for loans yet but I can't imagine other than that we will also work together in the future.'

Southern Neighbours. Portraits from Flanders 1400-1700. Mauritshuis The Hague, on view from 7 September 2017 to 14 January 2018.