Pieter Roelofs

Last updated

Pieter Roelofs
Born1972 (age 5152)
NationalityDutch
Alma mater Radboud University
Occupation(s)curator, art historian

Pieter Roelofs (born 1972) is a Dutch art historian working for the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam as head of paintings and sculpture. He specialises in Dutch Golden Age painting, particularly Rembrandt van Rijn. [1]

Roelofs studied history of art at the Radboud University in Nijmegen. After finishing his study, he worked as curator at the Valkhof Museum in Nijmegen. In 2006 he started working at the Rijksmuseum. In 2019 he led the restoration of Rembrandt's The Night Watch . [2] Using new scanning techniques the Rijksmuseum team discovered a preparatory sketch underneath the paint, which Roelofs said shows how Rembrandt searched for the right composition. [3] In an interview with the BBC Roelofs compared Rembrandt to a dance choreographer who grabs the viewer's eye and moves it through the composition. [4]

Roelofs was responsible for the largest Johannes Vermeer exhibition ever, which ran from February until June 2023. [5] [6] The exhibition attracted the highest number of visitors in the museum’s history. [7] The authenticity of three of the paintings included in the exhibition is disputed, including the Girl with a Flute , owned by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The gallery concluded in 2022 that its painting is a work by an associate of Vermeer, but Roelofs has said in interviews that he believes it to be a real Vermeer: "The doubt disappears somewhere during the flight over the ocean." [8]

Roelofs is judge in two Dutch TV programmes: Project Rembrandt and De Nieuwe Vermeer. [1] [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rijksmuseum</span> National museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands

The Rijksmuseum is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and the Concertgebouw.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johannes Vermeer</span> Dutch painter (1632–1675)

Johannes Vermeer was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. He is considered one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age. During his lifetime, he was a moderately successful provincial genre painter, recognized in Delft and The Hague. He produced relatively few paintings, primarily earning his living as an art dealer. He was not wealthy; at his death, his wife was left in debt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Han van Meegeren</span> Dutch painter and art forger (1889–1947)

Henricus Antonius "Han" van Meegeren was a Dutch painter and portraitist, considered one of the most ingenious art forgers of the 20th century. Van Meegeren became a national hero after World War II when it was revealed that he had sold a forged painting to Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carel Fabritius</span> Painter from the Northern Netherlands (1622–1654)

Carel Pietersz. Fabritius was a Dutch painter. He was a pupil of Rembrandt and worked in his studio in Amsterdam. Fabritius, who was a member of the Delft School, developed his own artistic style and experimented with perspective and lighting. Among his works are A View of Delft, The Goldfinch (1654), and The Sentry (1654).

<i>The Night Watch</i> 1642 painting by Rembrandt

Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq, also known as The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch, but commonly referred to as The Night Watch, is a 1642 painting by Rembrandt van Rijn. It is in the collection of the Amsterdam Museum but is prominently displayed in the Rijksmuseum as the best-known painting in its collection. The Night Watch is one of the most famous Dutch Golden Age paintings. Rembrandt's large painting is famed for transforming a group portrait of a civic guard company into a compelling drama energized by light and shadow (tenebrism). The title is a misnomer; the painting does not depict a nocturnal scene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerrit Dou</span> Dutch painter (1613–1675)

Gerrit Dou, also known as GerardDouw or Dow, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, whose small, highly polished paintings are typical of the Leiden fijnschilders. He specialised in genre scenes and is noted for his trompe-l'œil "niche" paintings and candlelit night-scenes with strong chiaroscuro. He was a student of Rembrandt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emanuel de Witte</span> Dutch painter

Emanuel de Witte (1617–1692) was a Dutch perspective painter. In contrast to Pieter Jansz Saenredam, who emphasized architectural accuracy, De Witte was more concerned with the atmosphere of his interiors. Though few in number, de Witte also produced genre paintings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pieter Lastman</span> Dutch painter

Pieter Lastman (1583–1633) was a Dutch painter. Lastman is considered important because of his work as a painter of history pieces and because his pupils included Rembrandt and Jan Lievens. In his paintings Lastman paid careful attention to the faces, hands and feet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esaias Boursse</span> Dutch painter

Esaias Boursse was a Dutch painter. His paintings were mainly genre works.

<i>The Milkmaid</i> (Vermeer) 1658–1661 painting by Johannes Vermeer

The Milkmaid, sometimes called The Kitchen Maid, is an oil-on-canvas painting of a "milkmaid", in fact, a domestic kitchen maid, by the Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer. It is in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, which regards it as "unquestionably one of the museum's finest attractions".

<i>Saint Praxedis</i> (painting) Painting attributed to Johannes Vermeer

Saint Praxedis is an oil painting by Johannes Vermeer. This attribution has often been questioned. The painting is believed to be a copy of a work by Felice Ficherelli that depicts the early Roman martyr, Saint Praxedis or Praxedes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pieter Codde</span> Dutch painter (1599–1678)

Pieter Jacobsz Codde was a Dutch painter of genre works, guardroom scenes and portraits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hendrick Cornelisz. van Vliet</span> Dutch Golden Age painter

Hendrick Corneliszoon van Vliet was a Dutch Golden Age painter remembered mostly for his church interiors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pieter van Ruijven</span>

Pieter Claeszoon van Ruijven has been known as Johannes Vermeer's main patron for the better part of the artist's career, but in 2023 his wife Maria de Knuijt was identified by the curators of the 2023 exhibition of Vermeer's works at the Rijksmuseum, in Amsterdam as the main patron due to her long-standing and supportive relationship with the artist. He built a sizeable estate from inheritances he and his wife received and fruitful investments. In 1669, he became the Lord of Spalant when he purchased land owned by Willem, Baron van Renesse.

<i>Girl with a Flute</i> 1665–1670 painting attributed to Johannes Vermeer

Girl with a Flute is a small painting by Johannes Vermeer. It is currently believed to have probably been painted between 1669–1675. It is owned by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. along with three paintings attributed to Vermeer: Woman Holding a Balance, A Lady Writing a Letter, and Girl with a Red Hat.

Bob Haak was a Dutch art expert known mostly as one of the founders of the Rembrandt Research Project.

Pieter J.J. van Thiel (1928–2012) was a Dutch art historian known mostly as one of the founders of the Rembrandt Research Project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kloveniersdoelen, Amsterdam</span> Civic guard complex in Amsterdam

The Kloveniersdoelen was a complex of buildings in Amsterdam which served as headquarters and shooting range for the local schutterij. The companies of kloveniers were armed with an early type of musket known as an arquebus, known in Dutch as a bus, haakbus or klover, hence the name kloveniers.

Eduard Siegfried"Eddy"de Jongh is a Dutch art historian specialized in iconography. He was professor of art history with a teaching assignment in iconography at Utrecht University between 1976 and 1989.

Betsy Wieseman is an American curator and art historian specialized in the art of seventeenth-century Northern Europe. She is the Curator and Head of the Department of Northern European Paintings at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the National Gallery of Art, she held curatorial positions at the Cleveland Museum of Art and the National Gallery in London.

References

  1. 1 2 "Pieter Roelofs". ntr.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  2. "Pieter Roelofs over de restauratie van de Nachtwacht". Radboud Universiteit (in Dutch). 18 July 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  3. McGreevy, Nora (10 December 2021). "A Hidden Sketch Is Discovered in Rembrandt's 'Night Watch'". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  4. "Rembrandt's The Night Watch painting restored by AI". BBC . 23 June 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  5. "Straks 28 Vermeers in het Rijksmuseum: 'Een echte once in a lifetime'". Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (in Dutch). 31 January 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  6. Jones, Jonathan (4 February 2023). "Vermeer will never look the same after Amsterdam exhibition". the Guardian . Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  7. "Vermeer tentoonstelling Rijksmuseum breekt bezoekersrecord". NOS (in Dutch). 4 June 2023.
  8. Rankin, Jennifer (2 January 2023). "When is a Vermeer not a Vermeer? Reputations on the line over authenticity of artwork". the Guardian . Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  9. "De Nieuwe Vermeer: verdwenen werken van grootmeester tot leven gebracht". Max Vandaag. 17 January 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2023.