The golden age of Holland in İstanbul

The exhibition dovetails with the museum’s 10-year anniversary.

Four hundred years ago the first Dutch diplomatic mission opened in İstanbul, in 1612, marking the formal start of diplomatic relations between the two countries. At the same time, the flowering of these diplomatic relations marked the start of increased cultural and trade relations between Turkey and the Netherlands. In fact, by the second half of the 17th century, the Dutch had consulates and trade missions in many Ottoman cities outside of İstanbul. In those days it was not just merchants and diplomats from the Netherlands who visited Ottoman lands, but also many celebrities from the Dutch artistic world. To the Dutch, the Ottoman Empire seemed very far away and interesting. They were interested in bringing back traces of Ottoman culture to their own country. Thus many of the Dutch painters who spent time in Turkey expended a great deal of their energy depicting the pashas, clothing and palace life of the times.

For a long time Dutch paintings from this era hung on the walls of the Levant Trade Chambers located in Amsterdam. Over time, these chambers became a sort of information center for the Ottomans; merchants held important meetings and, at the same time, learned much about the Ottomans through these paintings. Later, after the French occupation, the paintings were sent to Amsterdam’s Rijks Museum and others.

These paintings, finally collected in one place after hundreds of years of dispersal, were exhibited last week at İstanbul’s Pera Museum as part of the activities marking the 400th year of Turkish-Dutch diplomatic relations. The other notable event connected with these celebrations is the upcoming exhibit, which has been in preparation for the past two years, set to open at the Sakip Sabancı Museum. Set to show between Feb. 21 and June 10, the exhibit will include five paintings by Dutch “Golden Age” painter Rembrandt, as well as Dutch master Vermeer’s famous “Love Letter” painting. In connection with the upcoming exhibit, there was a tour last week for the press at the Netherland’s Rijks Museum, led by Museum Director Wim Pijbes, who showed press members some of the paintings that will soon head to İstanbul.

Pijbes expressed his pleasure that such important Dutch works are being exhibited in Turkey. “I think this exhibition will prove to everyone that these two countries are once again working together in a cultural sense as well as in many other arenas. On my most recent visit to İstanbul, I also noted great developments there. These developments show that İstanbul has opened itself to the world and reached the point it deserves to be at. There is an incredible sense of energy that is constantly in motion in İstanbul. I do hope that the pieces that will be on exhibit in İstanbul help to radiate this energy to the world,” said Pijbes.

Sakıp Sabancı Museum Director Nazan Ölçer is also extremely pleased that this exhibition, displayed in coordination with Amsterdam’s Rijks Museum, is occurring this year, the 400th year of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The exhibition also happens to be taking place during SSM’s 10th anniversary; the paintings from the Golden Age of Holland mark both of these auspicious anniversaries.

The actual coordination of the upcoming SSM exhibition took much legwork on both sides. The reason for this, as Ölçer noted, was because no museum in the world likes to bid farewell, even temporarily, to some of its most important pieces. Ölçer said: “This process included all sorts of bureaucratic letters, selecting the pieces, deciding how many pieces to exhibit, writing the catalogue and, of course, deciding on sponsorship. Visitors to these sorts of exhibitions never really know all the things that go on behind the scenes. They come, enjoy the exhibition and start wondering what the next one will be. Throughout the preparations we became exhausted and practically died during the process. So we really don’t like the question ‘What’s up next?’ the moment an exhibition opens.” Ölçer also noted that while the cost of this particular exhibition was significant, the museum did manage to get many local and foreign sponsors.

The Dutch government itself donated 300,000 euro to help celebrate the 400th year of diplomatic relations. Much has already appeared in the Dutch written and visual press about the upcoming exhibition. Ölçer said, “The ‘Ottomans in the Eyes of the West’ exhibition that will open in the Netherlands will display a number of items that have passed from our culture to theirs, such as tulips, coffee and certain fabrics.”

Rijks Museum sends works for final tour before restoration

Most of the pieces to be displayed in the upcoming exhibition of Dutch masters at the SSM are from the most famous museum in the Netherlands, the Rijks Museum. In addition to works by Rembrandt and Vermeer, there will also be works from Jan van Goyen, Jacob van Ruisdael and Aelbert Cuyp. The Rijks Museum is heading into a significant period of restoration scheduled to end in 2013, making this the final tour of these important works before the restoration begins.