Dutch Landscapes

Image of the Dutch Landscapes exhibition website

Diutch landscape paintyers have been very influential in terms of their influence over landscape painters who came after them - such as Turner and Constable.

Today marks the opening of an exhibition of Dutch Landscapes at The Queen’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. The exhibition runs from 30th April 2010 until 9th January 2011.

The exhibition will then transfer to and be shown at The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace from April to October 2011.

an exhibition of 42 works that draws on the Royal Collection’s rich holdings of Dutch ‘Golden Age’ painting. By the 17th century, landscape painting was well established as a distinct art form and one in which Netherlandish artists excelled. Artists turned to the countryside and to the sea to convey a pride in their homeland – the newly formed Dutch United Provinces. While some painters looked to their native surroundings for subject matter, others found inspiration in the mountainous vistas and golden light of Italy.

The exhibition includes outstanding examples by the great masters of landscape, including Jacob van Ruisdael, Aelbert Cuyp, Jan van der Heyden and Meyndert Hobbema.

Two resources are available to those who can't visit the exhibition in person are:

• the catalogue Dutch Landscapes by Desmond Shawe-Taylor, with contributions by Jennifer Scott (Royal Collection Publications, 176 pages, 110 colour illustrations). Exhibition price £14.95 from Royal Collection shops and online.
• the exhibition microsite where images if the landscapes can be seen. This part of the site works very nicely. The images are none too big but they are well labelled and there is an explanation of each painting. There's a long or a summarised version depending on whether you want the emphasis on the text or the image.

I'll have to wait to 2011 to se this but I'll certainly be visiting in when it comes to London.