Tours of masterpieces from the Leiden collection have begun in Russia
Pushkin Museum im. Pushkin was filled with the spirit of Rembrandt and the Leiden collection, which experts characterize as nothing less than a miracle. The collection, outstanding in quality, quantity and rigor in the selection of masterpieces of Dutch painting of the 17th century, is touring Russia (the Hermitage is next) and is the work of the Americans Thomas and Daphne Kaplan. There is a special conversation about them, since this is a rare case when the role of collectors is fundamental.
"Portrait of Rembrandt in Oriental Dress" by Isaac de Jauderville. Photo: AGN "Moscow"
In just 15 years of its existence, and we know that this is a moment for serious collections, the Leiden collection has absorbed about 250 first-class paintings and graphic items by Rembrandt and artists of his circle (Jan Vermeer, Carel Fabritius, Frans Hals, Gerrit Dau, Jan Lievens...). The scope of the collection is impressive - five generations of Dutch painters of the 17th century. And these are only the Leiden fijnschilders (masters of fine painting) and their contemporaries, whose lenses include portraits of amazing elegance, genre scenes, works on historical and mythological subjects. The name of the collection is a tribute to Rembrandt's hometown.
You don't have to be a genius to collect Rembrandts; “You have to be a genius to create like him,” said Thomas Kaplan, an American entrepreneur and international investor who highlights his Jewish roots, at the press screening. - I fell in love with him at the age of six, when my parents took me to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York). And at eight I asked to go with my family to Amsterdam, because the master lived there. My wife and I started building a collection, buying one work per week. Dealers said that we collect like Russians, even compared us to Catherine the Great, noting that she would have assembled such a collection in a day. We are proud of this comparison and the hospitality of Mother Russia, which received these works in such respected museums.
The Kaplan couple is distinguished not only by a meaningful, purposeful approach to the formation of a collection, but also by passion and generosity. Their collection - one of the few private ones specializing in the Dutch Golden Age - is not locked in mansions, but travels around the world. In recent years, their work has been supplemented by 172 temporary exhibitions, permanent exhibitions, and has been repeatedly provided to experts for scientific work, and the Leiden collection has toured France, in particular the Louvre, China; next year - Emirates.
Vadim Sadkov talks about Rembrandt's "Minerva". Photo: AGN "Moscow"
Each exhibition has its own symbol. The curator of the current exhibition, Vadim Sadkov (head of the department of art of old masters of the Pushkin Museum, a brilliant expert on the Dutch school) chose Rembrandt’s “Minerva”. This is what Catherine the Great was called, who combined the qualities of the goddess of wisdom and war. This is one of the most sophisticated and revealing images of the artist, where he embodied everything that he strived for (dark manner, dynamic work with painterly texture, open brushstroke...). Viewers may be familiar with it from stylistically overlapping works from the Hermitage, Prado and Metropolitan museums.
The Pushkinsky exhibition includes 82 works (80 paintings, 2 drawings). The material allows us to consider the formation of the art of the young Rembrandt and the sources of his creative inspiration. On the one hand, these are his teachers: Jacob van Swanenburg in Leiden and Pieter Lastman in Amsterdam. On the other hand, there is the recognized child prodigy Jan Lievens (at the age of 12 he was already a ready-made professional artist). Following his example, Rembrandt went to Amsterdam to continue his education, and later for several years he held a joint workshop with him in Leiden. The intriguing story, somewhat reminiscent of a detective story, of the discovery of Rembrandt's early light style by 20th-century scientists is connected with the difficult issue of his creative contacts with Lievens. At the beginning of their joint work in a common workshop, Lievens occupied a leading position, and the scale of Rembrandt's individual talent (1606–1669) was fully revealed only in the works of the late 1620s. What kind of artist he was in those years can be recognized from the earliest portrait of Rembrandt by Isaac de Jauderville.
The highlight of the exhibition is Rembrandt's three earliest works from the Five Senses series. One of them - “The Fainting Patient (Allegory of Olfaction)” - was recently discovered in a sensational way by art critics. In 2015, it appeared at a minor auction in New Jersey with an estimate of just $800 and was attributed to an unknown Continental artist. But understanding people, aware of the existence of other works from this series, quickly got their bearings and began bargaining for it over the phone. For modest money, the painting was bought by a dealer, who later restored it and sold it to Kaplan. This is what Rembrandt started with. Some experts suggest that it was written even before he left for Amsterdam to see Lastman, since Lastman’s influence is not yet felt here, but Livens is. His works are presented side by side, and these are the things that were attributed to Rembrandt even before the beginning of the twentieth century: their style is so similar.
Leonardo da Vinci. Bear's head. Photo: press service of the Pushkin Museum. Pushkin.
The two presented drawings are no less interesting. Kaplan’s collection began with Rembrandt’s “The Rest of the Young Lion.” He simply could not help but buy it, being the founder of the fund for supporting wild big cats. The second drawing - “Head of a Bear” by Leonardo da Vinci - is not included thematically and chronologically in the circle of interests of the collector, but possessing a drawing of a genius is the dream of every collector. And even if the work is small, it is very expressive. But the main thing is that thanks to her, “The Lady with an Ermine” was born. This bear served as a study for the image of an ermine, since Leonardo did not have an ermine at hand. He took a study of a bear and pulled out its face so believably that no one doubted that the work was written from life.
Kaplan’s special success is “The Girl Behind the Virginel” by Jan Vermeer. Only 36 works by the artist are known in the world. The Pushkin Museum exhibits the only work from the great master’s mature period that is still in a private collection. There is not a single painting by Vermeer in Russian museums. It is believed that “The Girl Behind the Virginel” was painted on canvas from the same roll as another work by Vermeer, the famous “The Lacemaker,” exhibited in the Louvre. In order for the viewer to feel the atmosphere of playing music on an ancient instrument, an original virginal from the Russian National Museum of Music, formerly Glinka, is next to the picture and sounds. The 16th-century instrument originated in Flanders, not Holland, which is often erroneously described as the center of virginel making.
Jan Vermeer of Delft. The girl behind the virginal. Photo: press service of the Pushkin Museum. Pushkin.
The beautiful Vermeer once again reminds us that in the era of mass collecting for the Hermitage, this master was not yet such an idol of the public as he is now, explains Hermitage director Boris Piotrovsky. - By the way, an inferiority complex led to the fact that we had an entire exhibition of Vermeer of Delft visiting one painting at a time. The Leiden painting fits well into it. You have to understand that this entire collection is a miracle. Similar things are in museums. But it was also collected recently, on today’s market of old masters, which is considered by many to be devastated. All that remains is to admire the talent, perseverance and greatness of the Kaplan couple...
And hope that modern collectors will take them as a guide. After all, such a selective approach is practically unheard of in the world today. Take, for example, the same Mr. Bernard Arnault, whom many Russian collectors look up to. He chases exclusively masterpieces and buys everything: from Bruegel and Rembrandt to Kandinsky and Hirst. Kaplan, as a reasonable person and historian (graduated from Oxford), simply cannot afford this. He developed the correct algorithm, entrusting the search for works to three proven art dealers with impeccable reputations. They are aware of all the achievements of science and find masterpieces intended for sale before they go to auction. The result is a collection of the highest level, which sooner or later will turn into a museum.
It has been organized by the State Hermitage and the Städelsches Kunstinstitut (Frankfurt am Main).
Two works by the same artist have already featured in the series: in 2001 Lady in Blue Reading a Letter (1662–64) and in 2011 The Love Letter (1669–70), both from the collection of the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam, Netherlands) .
Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) is one of the best known artists of Holland’s Golden Age. His refined painting technique, experiments with optics and perspective, unique way of conveying light and the poetic character of his images remain unsurpassed in their originality and the power of their impact on the viewer.
Vermeer’s life and work are connected with the city of Delft. To this day many mysteries remain in the artist’s biography. For example, it has still not been established from whom Vermeer learned to paint. Scholars suggest that his teacher may have been the brilliant Delft-based painter Carel Fabritius (1622–1654), who died young.
Vermeer painted The Geographer in 1669. It is a fairly small “cabinet picture” that the artist signed twice. Compared to the two works previously exhibited in the Hermitage, it reflects a different aspect of Vermeer’s repertoire of subject matter.
In the interior of a study illuminated by daylight entering through a window he presents us with a young man dressed in a homely manner. With one hand resting on the desk and a pair of dividers in the other, he has lifted his gaze for a moment from the books and papers lying before him to ponder some kind of decision. The character of the objects surrounding the personage and the nature of the setting test to his intellectual pursuits. The woven cover with a plant pattern casually pushed to the edge of the table, leaves room for the rolled-up leaves and a large white sheet of paper. Some more sheets, perhaps bearing calculations, lie unheeded on the floor. The notched rod that can just about be made out in the upper part of the window is, in the opinion of some scholars, part of an astronomical instrument known as a “Jacob’s staff”.
The young man’s relaxed pose, full of a sense of immediacy, and his elusive gaze that is not fixed on a specific object convey the fleeting nature of the situation. The fine play of light reflexes on the textured surface of the cloth, the glowing white expanse of paper on the desk, the soft shadow on the wall and the accents on the personage's clothing have been painted with exceptional delicacy and come together to create a whole of rare harmony. There is something metaphysical about this scene devoid of overt action, a glimpse seems to have been snatched from the flow of life in a way reminiscent of a still from a movie.
The geographical map and globe that feature in the composition grounds provided for identifying the personage in the painting as a geographer.
From 1713 right up to the end of the 18th century, in every collection The Geographer went together with another closely related work by Vermeer, which may have been a companion piece: The Astronomer (1668), now in the Louvre, Paris.
In creating The Geographer and The Astronomer, the artist intended more than simply the image of a scholar engaged in science, envisaging a broader philosophical aspect. The globe as a symbol of the universe and of the associated idea of the finite nature of earthly existence was a favorite motif in 17th-century paintings. A terrestrial or celestial globe features in many commissioned portraits, in genre scenes and in Dutch still lives. It plays an important role in the works of Rembrandt and his school. One of the unsolved questions about The Geographer is whom Vermeer is actually depicted in this painting. According to some hypotheses, the man who commissioned and served as the model for The Geographer and The Astronomer may have been a celebrated contemporary of Vermeer, the naturalist who later became famous for the invention of the microscope – Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723) , who in 1676 was appointed guardian of the artist's heirs.
When speaking of the history of this remarkable picture, which over the course of the centuries changed hands on multiple occasions and spent time in several European countries, mention must be made of one intriguing, albeit brief “Russian” episode. The memory of it is preserved by an oval stamp inscribed GALERIE DE SAN DONATO on the back of the canvas, and a half-erased mark made with sealing-wax on the stretcher. Also attached to the back of the painting is a sheet of paper carrying a detailed list of the collections through which it passed between 1713 and 1872. Around 1877, The Geographer was bought in Paris by the Russian businessman and art patron Pavel Pavlovich Demidov (1839 –1885). After inheriting the famous Villa San Donato outside Florence from his uncle, he settled in Italy. There the connoisseur enlarged through his own purchases the art collections assembled by several generations of Demidovs. Soon, though, as early as 1880, Pavel Pavlovich decided to sell the villa and its treasures and to move to a new estate, Pratolino. On 15 March 1880, a tremendous auction began at San Donato that went on for several days. The Vermeer was Lot 1124 in the auction catalogue.
The present exhibition has been prepared by the Department of Western European Art. The curator and author of the exhibition concept is Irina Alexeyevna Sokolova, Doctor of Culturology, Keeper of Dutch Painting and Chief Researcher in the Department of Western European Art.
A scholarly publication in Russian, Johannes Vermeer: The Geographer (State Hermitage Publishing House, 2016) has been produced for the exhibition. The text is by Irina Sokolova.
“Every admirer of Vermeer opens it with the key he owns.
There is no single point of view on the innermost essence of his work, and there cannot be."
Yuri Nagibin
An exhibition of one painting has ended in the Hermitage - Vermeer's "Geographer" was shown. And I managed to see her on the last day before closing.
This artist, better known in our country as Jan Vermeer or Vermeer of Delft, is presented on the poster as Johannes. Don't let this confuse you, this is the same Vermeer. The same one who wrote “The Girl with a Pearl Earring”, “The Girl with a Letter at the Window”, “The Embroiderer” and other recognized masterpieces of world art.
The Hermitage has an excellent collection of Dutch painting, including world-class paintings, but not a single one by Vermeer. And not only in the Hermitage, but in general in museum collections in Russia - no, so every opportunity to see paintings by a Dutch artist without leaving the homeland is unique and we had to take advantage of it.
This exhibition in the Hermitage was the third in the series “Masterpieces of the World Museums in the Hermitage”, which showed the works of the famous Dutch painter. This time the collaboration took place with the Städel Museum in Frankfurt am Main. 
You are not allowed to take photographs at the exhibition; I obediently limited myself to only the poster and a view of the introductory texts in the hall.
The work itself can be viewed in detail on the State Hermitage website, where the link to the image is taken from.
“Geographer” is one of the names of the painting, adopted today by researchers because of the maps and globe depicted on it. There are other names: “Mathematician”, “Philosopher”, “Architect”, “Geometer” - this is how the painting was called in various auction catalogues. The artist created this work in 1669.
There is another painting, the plot and composition of which suggest that it was a pair with “The Geographer”: this painting “The Astronomer”, painted a year earlier, is in the Louvre. From 1713 until the end of the 18th century, both paintings were kept together.
To fully understand the paintings of that time, it is necessary to know the symbolism of the objects depicted on it; not a single thing appeared in the paintings of the small Dutch by chance, each had a hidden content. The artist encrypted the true content of the painting with the help of the objects, animals, and people depicted on it, and the viewer had to decipher and guess what the painter really wanted to say.
Perhaps in the paintings “Geographer” and “Astronomer”, Vermeer created not just the image of a scientist, researcher, but spoke to the viewer about deep philosophical themes. The globe is often found in the “scientific” still lifes of Dutch painters of the 17th century as a symbol of the universe and the associated idea of the finitude of earthly life.
It has not been established exactly who exactly was depicted in Vermeer’s paired paintings, and whether it was a portrait or a collective image. There is a hypothesis that both the customer and the model for these paintings was Anthony van Leeuwenhoek, a famous naturalist and inventor of the microscope, who also lived in Delft and after the artist’s death was appointed guardian of his inheritance.
In addition to its historical, cultural and artistic value, Vermeer’s painting “The Geographer” has an interesting destiny, in which there is also a “Russian trace”.
In 1877, the painting was bought by Prince P. P. Demidov, who inherited from his uncle the famous Villa San Donato near Florence, but three years later he decided to sell the estate with the entire collection of works of art, and the painting “Geographer” along with others was sold at a grand auction in 1880.
This story is not the result of my own research work. I learned the story of the masterpiece in the introductory text to the exhibition and presented it here, adding a few words to once again draw attention to the artist, the painting and the museum. The author of the exhibition concept and accompanying materials is Irina Alekseevna Sokolova, Doctor of Cultural Studies, curator of Dutch painting, chief researcher of the Department of Western European Fine Art of the State Hermitage.
I will add my own hypothesis about the content of this picture, which, in order to be considered worthy of attention, must be verified. It is unlikely that I will ever do this, but as an assumption it does not pretend to be anything and has a right to exist. Think of it as a mind game.
What message did Vermeer encode in two of his paintings? Someone will see only an everyday scene: the office of a learned husband and himself at his intellectual pursuits. Someone is a hint of the frailty of existence. And I see the idea of the superiority of Divine power over the vanity of human thoughts and knowledge of the limitless universe. In short: the superiority of spirit over matter.
I proceed from two data that I cannot verify: the first is that the paintings are paired and were painted according to a single plan sequentially one after another, the second is that they have not undergone significant changes (we do not take changes in color into account) and have come to us in their original form. form.
If we place the images of these two paintings side by side, we will see some consistency in it, a kind of evolution of the hero’s state of mind, which I would call “from knowledge to revelation.”
In the first painting (known today as "The Astronomer") we see a man sitting facing a window. His whole posture speaks of confidence and superiority. He looks down at the globe - a model of the world - and touches it with his hand in a blessing gesture. He faces the light pouring from the window, which can be interpreted as the light of scientific knowledge. The small single-leaf window in front of him is completely open, just as the world outside the window is open and accessible to the human mind. The second part of the window, tightly closed, is practically invisible to the viewer; it dissolves in a gloomy corner of the room. A triumph of intellect, that’s what this picture could be called if it were unique and self-sufficient.
In the second picture, painted after the first (known as “The Geographer”), we see the same person and the same interior with a very similar set of objects. However, a significant change occurred with the owner of this room. This is no longer a self-confident scientist, proud of his discoveries in understanding the secrets of the universe, but a confused, even frightened person. The scrolls scattered around him speak of spiritual turmoil; a vague, unfocused gaze suddenly saw something that struck the scientist and shackled him with fear. His figure looks insignificant, small, as if a heavy load had fallen on his shoulders, and the man himself appears as a servant in a submissive, bent position.
The key to understanding the content of these paintings is undoubtedly the globe. And it is no coincidence that the artist depicted not a model of the globe, but an astronomical globe of the starry sky. Penetrating with the help of his intellect into the structure of the world, man became proud and imagined himself to be the master of the Universe - this is the meaning of the first picture. In the second, a revelation was revealed to a man, and he was afraid of what was revealed to him. It is as if he is conducting a dialogue and hears a voice, but this voice is not outside, but inside his being. This is where the transcendental impression of the painting comes from. The scientist’s eyes are scary, and seem to be blind; his face has turned into a mask. Please note that the man is no longer facing the window, but half-turned towards it, and the window in the second picture is completely open and looks twice as large in area as in the first picture. The curtain in the foreground, slightly covering the window, is in this case an emblem of the curtain that hides the secrets of the universe from man. What man studied turned out to be an insignificant part of a huge world. And this concept fits perfectly with the hypothesis that the picture depicts the inventor of the microscope, Leeuwenhoek. People saw a whole unknown world under a microscope and found themselves overwhelmed by the power and greatness of the force that created not only our visible world, but also many other worlds unknown to us.
The globe in the second picture is no longer on the table, it rises in the upper part of the picture, right above the scientist, the man is wilted, his pride is punished by revelation: only God is the master and ruler of the world and in his power is human knowledge about the universe, and the cross is on the globe, clearly visible in the second picture, clearly speaks of this.