There has been a delay between this and my last posting because I lost the key to my suitcase. I’m in Amsterdam, as a birthday treat from my lovely wife, particularly in order to see the Hockney/Van Gogh exhibition. My iPad was in my case, and when I put the key in the proverbial “safe place”, it turned out to be definitely unsafe, and I lost it. The hotel manager kindly forced the lock for me (I guess he has done that before) and I’m back in the realm of normal life.
I’ve had a strenius couple of days, with visits to four exhibitions! In fact, it would be no exaggeration to say that I,m “exhibitioned out”. I will not attempt to catch up on this occasion. I think that one museum at a time is quite enough.
Our first visit was to the Rijksmuseum, and while waiting for our timed ticket to “mature” I spent time in a room containing classic 17th. century Dutch interiors, particularly Vermeer and de Hooch. I was fascinated by the realisation that what I had previously read about these works seemed to be so superficial. Their feature that is normally the focus of attention is their wonderful light, but to dwell on this alone is almost to miss the point. I was struck in particular by the famous Milkmaid, and by The Letter, and the degree to which they are superby and subtly composed. More importantly, they are masterpieces of social or psychological insight.
By way of contrast, my attention was held by Reubens (a tryptich entitled The Incredulity of Thomas that struck me as a dreadful mistake. The side panels were portraits of his wealthy bourgeois patrons, very pious and very sober. Suddenly I realised that any treatment of the main theme that came anywhere close to doing justice to its drama and intensity would have left his patrons totally marginalised. As a consequence the whole thing had been reduced to a level that placed both patrons and the astonishing event of the resurrection on a shared psychological and narrative plane. I would not have believed previously that it could be possible to make the resurrection so banal!
Anyway, this all served to whet my appetite for Rembrandt, of which more tomorrow.
PS. We rather like Amsterdam. It makes Britain seem like a total mad-house!