Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered

October 26, 2008 – January 11, 2009
West Building, Main Floor, Galleries 57 through 63

This exhibition is no longer on view at the National Gallery.

Overview: 54 paintings, 38 drawings, and 42 prints were presented in this exhibition, which explored the work of 17th-century Dutch artist Jan Lievens. Works from the collection of the National Gallery of Art were shown together with loans from European and American collections, including paintings previously attributed to Rembrandt. The exhibition was arranged chronologically. Lievens' painting The Lamentation was displayed together with the modello for the work. The Raising of Lazarus was shown next to prints Lievens based on the painting.

Two opening-day lectures were presented in the East Building Auditorium: Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered by exhibition curator Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., and Jan Lievens in Black and White: Etchings, Woodcuts, and Collaborations in Print by Stephanie Dickey, Bader Chair in Northern Baroque Art, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. Two Sunday concerts featuring music by 17th-century Dutch composers were presented in honor of the exhibition.

Organization: The exhibition was organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in association with the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Rembrandthuis, Amsterdam. Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., curator of northern baroque painting at the National Gallery of Art, selected the exhibition in conjunction with Laurie Winters, curator of earlier European art at the Milwaukee Art Museum; Bob van den Boogert and Jaap van der Veen, Rembrandthuis; and Lloyd DeWitt, assistant curator of European paintings before 1900 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in consultation with Stephanie Dickey from Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, for the prints, and Gregory Rubinstein, head of old master drawings at Sotheby's, London, for the drawings.

Sponsor: The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation was the national sponsor of the exhibition. It was made possible by Isabel and Alfred Bader and anonymous donors in honor of George M. Kaufman. Early support for curatorial and conservation research was provided by Mrs. George M. Kaufman and the Joseph F. McCrindle Foundation. The exhibition was supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. The brochure was made possible by Mrs. Henry H. Weldon.

Attendance: 99,227

Catalog: Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. et al. Washington: National Gallery of Art in association with Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2008.

Brochure: Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered by Margaret Doyle. Washington: National Gallery of Art, 2008.

Other Venues: Rembrandthuis, Amsterdam, May 17–August 9, 2008
The Milwaukee Art Museum, February 7–April 26, 2009