Old masters' gallery catalogues Szépmüvészeti múzeum Budapest / Volume 1 portraits 1600-1800 / druk 1

The collection of Netherlandish Old Master paintings in the Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest, is one of the largest in the world outside the Netherlands and Belgium. Primavera Press is proud to present the first two volumes of its bilingual catalogue raisonné.

The first volume contains one hundred and five Dutch and Flemish portraits from 1600 to 1800, including paintings by great masters such as Anthony van Dyck, Frans Hals, Thomas de Keyser, and Bartholomeus van der Helst, as well as fine works by lesser-known portraitists from nearly all famous centres of Netherlandish painting. Recent research has revealed the names of several of the sitters and made possible a number of new attributions. The reader will also find the latest information on the provenance of the paintings.

The author is Rudi E.O. Ekkart, director of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie in The Hague, a leading authority on seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish portraits and professor of art history at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands.

The second volume discusses ninety-two still lifes, not only masterpieces by prominent specialists such as Jan Fijt, Jan Davidsz. de Heem, Pieter Claesz., Willem Claesz. Heda, Willem Kalf, Abraham van Beijeren, and Willem van Aelst, but also works by lesser-known masters, including Andries Benedetti, Frans Ryckhals, Jan Treck, and Jan van der Heyden. The volume discusses all subcategories: flower, fruit and banquet pieces, hunting trophies, kitchen and pantry interiors, and representations of live animals.

The author is Ildikó Ember, chief curator of the Old Masters’ Gallery in Budapest, who specializes in seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish painting and is the author of several books and catalogues on still life painting. Three entries were written by Fred G. Meijer, curator at the RKD in The Hague.