Rembrandt and the Golden Age Of Portland Museums

We took in the Rembrandt show at the Portland Art Museum a few weeks back—properly “Rembrandt and the Golden Age of Dutch Art” (link). I had intended to blog a bit but other things got in the way and anyway, I somehow had the impression it was closing right away, so I let it slide.

Oops, my bad. Turns out the show it will be in Portland until September 18, So, good, I have a chance to rectify my oversight: it’s a fine show, not the best ever, but interesting and instructive and well worth a side trip.

The premise is straightforward enough; the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is cleaning house, so they packed off some of the good stuff and Portland is one of the lucky beneficiaries. Not quite a surprise: Portland has an honorable history of getting good shows (although I did hear some chatter to the effect that insurance costs dictate that this will be the last).

I also heard a bit of muttering to the effect that there isn’t a lot of Rembrandt and that’s probably a fair cop, but perhaps in a way, that is the point. Rembrandt is himself, heaven knows, but he is one of those artists who is a creature of his times: you can appreciate him better when you see him in the context of that explosion of creativity that suffused the Dutch art world in the 16^th-17^th Century. I suppose in a sense you could say this about almost any creative person, but some more than others: Shakespeare is surely a product of his times, but how, exactly, do you situate Cervantes?

So the particular virtue of the Portland show is the way we see the others, confronting the same agendas, accepting the same challenges and trying to solve the same problems. You get to see how good they are—and how, for the most part, Rembrandt really is something else.

Il Teatro Buce has just completed a showing of the genial and instructive lecture series on Dutch art by William Kloss (link). It’s a good complement to the Portland show, and an instructive reminder of just how rich (in talent, but, yes, also in money) the Dutch Golden Age really was. Anyway, Portland, until September 18. And it’s a great town anyway, so go enjoy.

Fn.: Googling for this piece, I ran across this. No wonder I like this stuff; I can find a bankruptcy angle.