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The McMaster Museum of Art presents:

Worldly Possessions:
Visualizing Ownership in the Age of the Baroque


27 August 2013 – 25 January 2014


Curated by Gregory Davies, Assistant Professor, McMaster School of the Arts
with McMaster University Art History students:
Adam Carter, Ariel de Aguiar, Taithleach Gillettsmyth, Mira Qamar and Anna Wisniowski


RECEPTION:  September 19, 6 – 8 pm
CURATOR’S TALK by Gregory Davies:  Friday September 20, 12:30 pm
GUIDED TOURS during Canada Culture Days:  September 27 & 28 at 12:30 pm


This exhibition invites the contemporary viewer to look at a range of material from the collection of the McMaster Museum of Art in the context of broader European concerns about possession and ownership in the 17th and 18th centuries.

 

Issues of consumerism and consumption are addressed in many early Dutch still-life paintings, yet these images, along with portraits and genre pictures, also serve to bridge a divide between material desire and the mortality of a predominantly Protestant society.  A luxurious still-life, for instance, was not simply a depiction of opulence but a means of giving legitimacy to the desire for wealth and its acquisition.  In a society confronted by rapid economic growth, colonialism and the questionable methods by which much of the wealth was being acquired, this was a matter of considerable importance.

 

A brochure, with essays by members of the curatorial team, will be available.

 

Curator's Exhibition Blog


Introductory video

 

LIST OF WORKS

 

Philips Breughel  (Flemish 1635-c.1662)
Still Life with Pike, Barbel and Vegetables, mid 17th Century
oil on canvas, 88.3 x 115.3 cm
Levy Bequest Purchase, 1995

 

Adriaen Brouwer  (Flemish 1605-1638)
The Drinker / The Bitter Draught, c. 1635-1638
oil on wood panel, 34.3 x 27.1 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984

 

Guillaume de L’Isle  (French 1675-1726)
L'Amerique Septentrionale, 1708
engraving, hand coloured, 46 x 59.3 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984

 

Attributed to Gerrit Dou  (Dutch 1613-1675)
Portrait of Dou's Father, 1635 - 1640
oil on canvas, 22.9 x 20.3 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984

 

Attributed to Gerrit Dou  (Dutch 1613-1675)
Portrait of Rembrandt’s Father, n.d.
oil on canvas, 19.2 x 15.3 cm
Gift of Herman Levy Esq., 1984

 

Albrecht Dürer  (German 1471-1528)
Das Meerwunder / The Sea Monster, 1498
wood engraving, 25 x 18.4 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984

 

Wenzel (Wenceslaus) Hollar  (Czechoslovakian 1607-1677)
Woman with coiled hair (after Albrecht Dürer), 1646
Published by Adam Alexius Bierling
etching, 25.4 x 18 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984

Jodocus Hondius  (Flemish 1563-1612)
America Septentrionalis, 1609
engraving, hand coloured, 37.5 x 50.8 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984

Herman Moll  (Dutch c. 1654-1732)
A New and Exact Map of the Coast, Countries and Islands within the Limits of the South Sea Company, 1711
engraving, hand coloured, 49.2 x 66.3 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (Dutch 1606-1669)
The Golf Player, 1654
etching, 9.5 x 14.2 cm
On extended loan from Mrs. Miriam Lebow

 

Bastiaan Stoopendael  (Dutch, 1637-1693)
De Stadt Algiers / La Ville d'Alger, 17th Century
engraving, 28 x 35.5 cm
Gift of the Herman Levy Estate, 1990

 

Michael (Michiel) Sweerts  (Flemish 1618-1664)
Head of a Young Man, mid 17th Century
oil on paper affixed to canvas
39.3 x 31.2 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984

 

Unknown
later copy of Paulus Moreelse Shepherdess, 1614
oil on panel, 67.2 x 51.3 cm
B.M. Greene Bequest, 1963

 

Unknown, active in Dordrecht, The Netherlands, c. 1650
Portrait of Three Children, 17th Century
oil on canvas, 42.6 x 33.1 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984

 

Unknown, in the manner of Edwaert Collier (Dutch c. 1640-1708)
Trompe L'Oeil
oil on canvas, 54 x 37.8 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984

 

Unknown, Flemish, 17th century
after Alexander Adriaenssen (Flemish 1587-1661)
Still Life with Oysters, 1630s
oil on panel, 39.3 x 44.5 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984

 

Unknown, in the manner of Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish 1577-1640)
Portrait of Maximillian, Archduke of Austria, late 16th-mid 17th Century
oil on canvas, 36.6 x 30 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984

 

 

 

 

Unknown Venetian, in the manner of Domenico Tintoretto (Italian 1560-1635)
Portrait of an unknown man, 16th century
oil and mixed media on canvas
45.2 x 38.7 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984

 

Aert van der Neer  (Netherlandish 1603-1677)
A Frozen Waterway with Villagers Playing Kolf and Skating and a Horsedrawn Sleigh, 17th Century
oil on panel, 23.8 x 37.7 cm
Levy Bequest Purchase, 1993

 

Jacob van der Schley  (Dutch 1715-1779)
Malaka, c. 1753
engraving, 21 x 35.5 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984

 

Willem van de Velde the Younger  (1633-1707)
Seascape with coastline, 17th Century
pen and wash, 10.2 x 16.2 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984

 

Anthony van Dyck  (Flemish 1599-1641)
Adam van Noort, printed posthumously c. 1680
etching, 24.7 x 15.7 cm
Purchase, 1968

 

Egbert van Heemskerck  (Dutch 1634-1704)
Scene at the Inn, 17th century
oil on canvas, 59 x 81.5 cm
B.M. Greene Bequest, 1963

 

Rochus van Veen  (Dutch c. 1640-1693)
Studies of Insects, 1659
watercolour, 20.8 x 29.7 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984

 

Rochus van Veen  (Dutch c. 1640-1693)
Studies of Spiders, 1670
watercolour, 21 x 30.7 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984

 

Other (Specimens)

Narwhal Tusks
ivory
2.1 x 97.6 x 3.2 cm
Gift of Mr. W.M. Berry, 1980

Nautilus Shell
14 x 8.9 x 17.1 cm
Courtesy of Gregory Davies

Red (Precious) Coral
9 x 8 x 13 cm
Courtesy of Gregory Davies