Portrait Gallery of the Golden Age

Stunning exhibition at the Hermitage Amsterdam looking at group portraits of the Golden Age.

This was a beautifully designed show with a centre piece of a huge room full of large 17th century group portraits and an excellent audio visual presentation which picked out themes and individuals with spot lights. The whole thing gave a real feeling of being back in 17th century Amsterdam surrounded by the people of that time.

I loved some of the stories such as that of a man who had held a high position in a militia and was shown carrying its flag on the group picture but he went bankrupt and ended up working as a steward for the same company looking at the grand picture of his former triumph every day.

The upper floor with windows onto the lower gallery told the story of urban society in Amsterdam at that time looking at what the city looked like and how it operated. It basically gave the background to the people in the pictures and gave an idea of what their professional and personal lives were like. At key points it focused on the personalities you had been introduced to downstairs telling their stories in more detail.

It ended with a modern take on the show with photographs by Taco Anema of modern groups and committees in the Netherlands taken in the traditional format of people around a table.

All in all a fantastic show well thought out, beautifully designed and giving a real insight into a society. It made me go back to the Rijksmuseum and look at the Golden Age work with a different eye.

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