January 24, 2006
Director of Media Relations
413/542-8417

AMHERST, Mass.—As part of the regional cultural event GoDutch! and to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Rembrandt’s birth, the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College will present “Dutch Masters of the Seventeenth Century,” a selection of works on paper from the permanent collection, from Saturday, Jan. 28 through Sunday, Aug. 20. Joel Upton, a professor of fine arts at Amherst, will speak about the 1667 painting “Interior of the New Church, Delft,” by Hendrick Cornelisz. van Vliet, in a lecture titled “Waiting’ with Hendrick Cornelisz. van Vliet (1611-1675): A Contemplative Encounter” at 4:30 p. m. on Thursday, March 16, in the Green Teaching Gallery at the museum. Admission to the museum and all events is free and open to the public.

“Dutch Masters of the Seventeenth Century” will feature several etchings by Rembrandt, including the “Triumph of Mordecai,” a recent gift from Albert Barnett (Amherst College Class of 1952). Landscape, portraiture, genre, religious and mythological subjects will be on view, reflecting the wide thematic range of Dutch art of the period. In addition to Rembrandt, artists will include Nicolaes Berchem, Hendrik Goltzius, Pieter van Laer, Paulus Moreelse, Jacob van Ruisdael and Geertruydt Roghman, one of the rare women printmakers active in Holland in the 17th century.

Related GoDutch! exhibits will take place at the Smith College Museum of Art, the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, Historic Deerfield, the University Gallery (University of Massachusetts) and the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. This collaborative project of the Museums10 consortium is supported in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

The Mead Art Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Thursday evenings until 9 p.m. Additional information is available on the museum’s Website or by calling the museum at 413/542-2335.

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