Govert Flinck, “Self-Portrait,” circa 1640, oil on panel, 59 x 47 cm., Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne

Many important paintings are coming together from across the world for a significant double exhibition in Amsterdam — some of which haven’t been in the Dutch capital since the 17th century. What’s the buzz in the Netherlands?

The Amsterdam Museum and Rembrandt House have teamed together to offer art lovers and museum-goers the chance to explore the mastery of Ferdinand Bol and Govert Flinck — considered to have been two of Rembrandt van Rijn’s master pupils. In the Rembrandt House, the place where Rembrandt taught Bol and Flinck, the emphasis is on their time with the master. According to the museum, “the works on view will transport visitors back in time to the painters’ early years and their training.”

Ferdinand Bol, “Self-Portrait,” circa 1647, oil on canvas, 93 x 83.5 cm., private collection

Conversely, the Amsterdam Museum will give visitors the opportunity to “discover that Bol and Flinch developed into great artists in their own right. Helped by a carefully constructed and nurtured network, the ambitious painters succeeded in reaching the pinnacle of the art market. The two men, who were of an age, became formidable competitors of their former teacher — and one another. During their lifetimes, they were even more successful than Rembrandt himself.”

“Ferdinand Bol and Govert Flinck: Rembrandt’s Master Pupils” opens on October 13 and will continue through February 18, 2018. To learn more, visit The Amsterdam Museum or the Rembrandt House.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.


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Andrew Webster
Andrew Webster is the former Editor of Fine Art Today and worked as an editorial and creative marketing assistant for Streamline Publishing. Andrew graduated from The University of North Carolina at Asheville with a B.A. in Art History and Ceramics. He then moved on to the University of Oregon, where he completed an M.A. in Art History. Studying under scholar Kathleen Nicholson, he completed a thesis project that investigated the peculiar practice of embedded self-portraiture within Christian imagery during the 15th and early 16th centuries in Italy.

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