 The Fries Museum in 2014 | |
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| Established | 13 April 1881 |
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| Location | Wilhelminaplein 92, Leeuwarden, Netherlands |
| Coordinates | 53°11′59″N5°47′40″E / 53.1996°N 5.79444°E |
| Type | Museum |
| Website | www |
The Fries Museum (Frisian Museum) is a museum in Leeuwarden, Netherlands. It has won the Global Fine Art Award which is sometimes nicknamed the Museum-Oscar. [1]
The museum was founded on 13 April 1881 by the "Provincial Friesch Genootschap ter Beoefening van Friesche Geschied-, Oudheid- en Taalkunde", a society for the preservation of Frisian culture that itself was founded in 1827 and needed a place to exhibit the various artifacts it had gathered together. In the early decades this local museum on the Turfmarkt, Leeuwarden , an offshoot of the Antiquarisch Kabinet van Friesland, was focussed on typical Hindelooper goods and other Frisian curiosities that had been collected by the local preacher-writer Joost Hiddes Halbertsma. The first historical exhibition of 1877, however, which had over 1500 items on loan and attracted many visitors, led to an unexpected profit of 17,000 guilders, and the museum was able to purchase a new property on the Koningstraat, the former "Eysinga house", where the museum opened its doors in 1881. [2]
A further important boost to the collection occurred when William III of the Netherlands bequeathed many portraits from the collection of the Stadhouderlijk Hof. In 1892 a new wing was built to house the growing collection, with a special viewing room for the paintings with a large skylight.
The Frisian architect Abe Bonnema initiated the new building. When he died in 2001, he left 18 million euros to the Fries Museum. [3] The new museum on Wilhelminaplein was designed by Hubert-Jan Henket. On 13 September 2013, the building was opened by Queen Máxima.
The collection of the Fries Museum consists of 1 million objects and is dedicated to arts, crafts, and history from the years 1200 to 2000. Around 8000 objects are currently on display in the museum.
The most iconic objects in the museum are the Hindelooper Room, the Popta Treasure (Frisian silverware) and the legendary sword of Grote Pier. [4]
The Mata Hari hall is dedicated to the life of the dancer and spy, who was born in 1876 in Leeuwarden as Margaretha Zelle. The museum has the largest collection of works by the local late 16th century portrait painter Adriaen van Cronenburg. The collection contains paintings by notable painters such as Wigerus Vitringa, Wybrand de Geest, Eelke Jelles Eelkema, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Gerrit Benner and Jan Mankes.
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema was a Dutch painter who later settled in the United Kingdom, becoming the last officially recognised denizen in 1873. Born in Dronryp, the Netherlands, and trained at the Royal Academy of Antwerp, Belgium, he settled in London, England in 1870 and spent the rest of his life there.
Leeuwarden is a city and municipality in Friesland, Netherlands, with a population of 127,073 (2023). It is the provincial capital and seat of the Provincial Council of Friesland.
The Frans Hals Museum is a museum in the North Holland city of Haarlem, the Netherlands, founded in 1862, known as the Art Museum of Haarlem. Its collection is based on the city's own rich collection, built up from the 16th century onwards. The museum owns hundreds of paintings, including more than a dozen by Frans Hals, to whom the museum owes its name. The Frans Hals Museum has two historic locations in Haarlem city centre: the main location on Groot Heiligland and Location Hal on Grote Markt, composed of the adjacent 17th-century Vleeshal and 19th-century Verweyhal. On Groot Heiligland is the 17th-century Oudemannenhuis with regent's rooms. It houses the famous paintings by Frans Hals and other ancient, modern and contemporary art, as well as the museum café. Location Hal regularly hosts exhibitions of modern and contemporary art.
The Hague School is a group of artists who lived and worked in The Hague between 1860 and 1890. Their work was heavily influenced by the realist painters of the French Barbizon school. The painters of the Hague school generally made use of relatively somber colors, which is why the Hague School is sometimes called the Gray School.
Spring is an 1894 oil-on-canvas painting by the Anglo-Dutch artist Lawrence Alma-Tadema, which has been in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California, since 1972. The painting relates the Victorian custom of children collecting flowers on May Day back to an Ancient Roman spring festival, perhaps Cerealia or Floralia or Ambarvalia, although the details depicted in the painting do not correspond to any single Roman festival. It was the inspiration for the scene of Julius Caesar's triumphal entry into Rome in the 1934 film Cleopatra.
Jacob Adriaensz Backer was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He produced about 140 paintings in twenty years, including portraits, religious subjects, and mythological paintings. In his style, he was influenced by Wybrand de Geest, Rubens and Abraham Bloemaert. He is also noted for his drawings of male and female nudes.
Jan Verhas or Jan Frans Verhas was a Belgian painter of the Realist school. He was known for his portraits and genre paintings often depicting children of the Belgian bourgeoisie. Jan Verhas also painted history paintings, coastal landscapes, beach scenes, seascapes and the occasional still life of flowers. He was an important representative of the Realist movement in Belgium.
Laura Theresa, Lady Alma-Tadema was a British painter specialising in domestic and genre scenes of women and children. Eighteen of her paintings were exhibited at the Royal Academy. Her husband, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, was one of the most prominent Victorian painters.
Wybrand Simonsz. de Geest was a Dutch Golden Age portrait painter from Friesland.
Jacobus Ludovicus Cornet, also known by his initials as J.L. Cornet, was a Dutch painter and draughtsman. He often depicted Dutch historic scenes and figures, contributing several paintings to Jacob de Vos Jacobszoon's gallery of oil paintings depicting scenes from Dutch history. Cornet also painted and drew portraits, landscapes, interiors and a range of other subjects.
Stadhouderlijk Hof in the city of Leeuwarden is a former residence of the Dutch royal family and was owned by them until 1971.
Sina (Sientje) van Houten was the wife of Hendrik Willem Mesdag, the Dutch marine painter of the Hague School, and a painter herself.
Anna Alma-Tadema was a British artist and suffragette.
Adriaen van Cronenburg was a Northern Netherlandish painter. He produced mainly portraits.
The Hofje van Mevrouw van Aerden is a museum and former hofje in Leerdam, Netherlands, on the Kerkstraat.
Abe Bonnema was a Dutch architect.
A Reading from Homer is an oil-on-canvas painting executed in 1885 by the English artist Lawrence Alma-Tadema. It depicts an imaginary festival scene from ancient Greece with youth reading poetry to a small audience on a marble balcony overlooking the sea. The painting has been in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art since 1924.
The Art Collection of Henry Gurdon Marquand was a collection of antiques and paintings owned by Henry Gurdon Marquand, the second president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, until his death in 1902.
The Dekemastate or Dekema State is a stins in the Dutch village of Jelsum, Friesland. It was probably built in the late 15th century on the location of a zaalstins from the 14th century. The estate currently functions as a museum.
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