New collection catalogue on Dutch and Flemish landscape paintings published

A rich collection

The Old Master Painting Department of the Szépmüvészeti Múzeum manages European paintings from various national schools. The collection was formed by combining holdings from the National Picture Gallery, the National Museum, and several aristocratic and ecclesiastical collections. The paintings by Dutch and Flemish masters from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries – almost 900 works in total – constitute an indisputable highlight, both in number and in quality. They include a great variety of genres, featuring major masterpieces by leading masters as well as unique paintings by lesser-known artists. The landscape section – counting 231 paintings – is equally diverse, ranging from earlier Flemish “world landscapes” to typically Dutch views of woods, dunes, riversides, coasts, and cities, as well as idealized Italianate scenes and southern ports.

Expertise from the RKD

The series Old Masters’ Gallery Catalogues is the initiative of the museum’s former chief curator Ildikó Ember, who called upon the expertise of the RKD from the outset. In 2011, the first two volumes in the series were published: one part devoted to the Dutch and Flemish portraits, written by former RKD director Rudi Ekkart, another one covering the still life paintings, written by Ember and under the advise of former RKD curator Fred G. Meijer. Both catalogues yielded many new interpretations, attributions, and insights, based on the most recent state of research and incorporating the results of technical examination. As such, they have set the standard for the third volume on the landscape paintings, on which Ember has been working on since 2015.

Research

In preparation for the catalogue, all 231 landscape paintings in the museum’s collection have been systematically researched: attributions and proposed dates were critically assessed, sometimes on the basis of technical documentation, and provenances were expanded upon. About 20 paintings have been cleaned, restored, or technically analyzed by the museum’s conservation department. New digital high-resolution photographs have been made, including detail images of signatures, the backs of the paintings, and relevant labels, inscriptions, and wax seals, which are illustrated in the catalogue.

New attributions

The research has resulted in several revised attributions, perhaps the most spectacular case being Landscape with Shepherds. The authorship of this painting has always been disputed, ranging from “manner of Rembrandt” to “18th-century English”. Art historian Max J. Friedländer supposedly attributed it to Jacobus Sibrandi Mancadan from Friesland. Yet, after examination of the manner of execution and the extensive underdrawing, it can now be tentatively attributed to the Flemish artist Lucas van Uden. This exciting case, as well as many other new findings, will be documented in the RKDimages database to further enable access to the research results and to connect them to information on other artworks, artists and collectors.

The catalogue

The richly illustrated landscape catalogue comprises two tomes, and is written in English and Hungarian. The production of the catalogue was made possible by the generous support of the Fondation Périer-d’Ieteren.