Masterpieces from the Royal Collection: Rembrandt The Shipbuilder and his Wife

Interesting exhibition at Ferens Art Gallery in Hull to examine the themes in a picture on loan from the Royal Collection, Rembrandt’s “The Shipbuilder and his Wife”.

It’s a picture I know well from various exhibitions at the Queen’s Gallery but it was nice to see it stand alone and to see it’s various themes explored in more detail. What a lovely picture to lend to a sea faring town.

It was a lovely chance to look in more detail at the picture rather than thinking of it in the context of other works. I’d not realised before that he is in the process of drawing the designs for a ship and I love the paraphernalia of his work on his desk. I also love the sense of his wife rushing into the room to give him a letter and of course the beautifully painted faces.

It gave the gallery a chance to explore the theory that Rembrandt spent several months in Hull in 1661, an idea promoted by the antiquarian George Vertue. It was lovely to see Virtue’s original notebook there lent by the British Library. The display looked at the similarities and links between Hull and the Netherlands at this time. The art geek in me loved the fact they not only had a copy of the Wenceslaus map of Hull but also the etching plate for it again lent by the British Library.

Closes on 28 August 2017

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