Going Dutch

It's been a while and MAD is back. Despite fear of holiday weekend crowds on the Mall, MAD visited the National Gallery of Art to see Pride of Place: Dutch Cityscapes of the Golden Age. This exhibit is closing May 3 and MAD didn't want to run the risk of missing it having heard from YD (younger daughter) that (1) it was good and (2) it has manuscripts and most of all (3) it has old maps - a MAD favorite.




OS (older son) joined me for lunch at Sala Thai on U Street and the Gallery and added a dimension to the visit both by his good company, his intelligence and brief reminiscences of a few days spent in Amsterdam several years ago. Was this exhibit evocative to him? "No" he said, but I got to use the word "evocative" - another favorite of mine - in this post

Neither of us were disappointed. The exhibit used visually lovely and detailed paintings to illustrate the history of the Netherlands - particularly urban history - in the 17th Century. Most of this art emerged from the economic prosperity which was driven by international commerce and celebrated the achievements of this prosperity. How interesting to look at paintings that were created to be viewed as examples of contemporary achievement and now to be able to study history from them as a group.

The corresponding maps and manuscripts from that time period also contain the perspective of the time period. The two media were combined in Micker's Bird's-Eye View of Amsterdam from 1652 that was depicted through clouds, showing patches of sunlight over the heart of the city and the medieval town hall on Dam Square, the view of which even then was over 100 years old.


A timeline of Dutch history of that period was near the entrance to the exhibit. MAD doesn't know much about that period except for what she learned in school relating to the Pilgrims - most of the people in the paintings looked like Pilgrims - and what was the deal with those big white collars? The overlap between art and history today made me eager to learn more. Now I need to (1) get a copy of Simon Schama's The Embarrassment of Riches and (2) read it.