The Institut Néerlandais & the Fondation Custodia in Paris Present Master Drawings by Rembrandt

Written by Gordon Statham Wednesday, 22 June 2011 22:10

Paris.- The Dutch cultural centre Institut Néerlandais and the Fondation Custodia in Paris is proud to present the exhibition "Rembrandt and his circle. Master drawings from the Collection Frits Lugt" from June 30th through October 2nd. The Institut Néerlandais is proud to present nearly one hundred of the finest drawings by Rembrandt and his circle from the famous Frits Lugt Collection. The exhibition will bring together twenty rarely exhibited Rembrandt drawings and a selection of the best work from his pupils and contemporaries, including Govert Flinck, Ferdinand Bol, Nicolaes Maes and Lambert Doomer. Following their successful showing at the Frick Collection in New York, the works are be presented in 17th century frames from the Fondation Custodia, which have been recently restored especially for this occasion.

All the drawings in the exhibition come from the private collection of Frederik (Frits) Johannes Lugt (1884-1970), regarded as one of the twentieth century’s greatest private collectors of drawings. He was a major historian of Dutch art and an accomplished amateur who at a young age established himself as an outstanding collector. Lugt was especially interested in landscapes and portraits, and he thought of the 17th century in the Netherlands as his “golden age”, with Rembrandt as his great hero. Over the years he built an excellent and nearly complete set of etchings and a superb selection of drawings by the artist – most of which, impressively, are still today ascribed to Rembrandt – together with a coherent collection of works by artists in Rembrandt’s circle, including pupils and followers.


The impressive collection is managed by the Fondation Custodia, a partner of the Institut Néerlandais in Paris. Frits Lugt’s collection of drawings by Rembrandt and his circle has been studied in depth over the last years by Peter Schatborn, former head of the Rijksprentenkabinet, the national print room at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Schatborn is the international expert on 17th century drawings, in particular by Rembrandt, whose work has given rise to a number of revised attributions, recently published in the catalogue raisonné of the Frits Lugt Collection. The exhibition celebrates his publication that meticulously documents the drawings by Rembrandt and his circle in the Frits Lugt Collection. These new attributions will be presented and explained to the public in an exhibition room focused on this fascinating research.

Behind the façade of 121 rue de Lille, in Paris's elegant seventh arrondissement, lie two worlds that are closely connected. On the street side, there is a hive of activity: here the Institut Néerlandais organises exhibitions, concerts, lectures, film shows, conferences and language courses centred on Dutch culture. If one crosses the courtyard at the rear between this house and the eighteenth-century Hôtel Turgot, it seems as if time has stood still. This is where the Frits Lugt Collection is housed under the watchful eye of the Fondation Custodia. The Fondation Custodia is in charge of the Frits Lugt Collection, the scholarly research relating to it, the publishing programme and the organisation of exhibitions. It also works in partnership with the Institut Néerlandais in Paris, which was founded in 1956 as the result of a joint initiative by Frits Lugt and the Dutch government. The Fondation Custodia also gives moral and financial support to the Nederlands Interuniversitair Kunsthistorisch Instituut (Dutch Institute for Art History) in Florence and the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (Netherlandish Institute for Art History) in The Hague. The Fondation Custodia's collection of books on art history is open to the public. It consists of about 180,000 titles which are housed in the library of the Institut Néerlandais. The collection includes French, English, American, German, Italian, Dutch and Indian art history literature. Visit the foundation's wbesite at ... http://www.fondationcustodia.fr


The Netherlands Institute, founded in 1957, is one of the oldest foreign cultural centers in Paris. It organizes many cultural events: exhibitions, concerts, film screenings, seminars, conferences, debates and courses in Dutch. It serves as a platform for the Dutch culture in France, providing a meeting place for dialogue between France and the Netherlands, it acts as an intermediary between the institutions and the French and Dutch artists. In addition, each year more than 500 French to learn Dutch at the Institute. Each year 30,000 to 50,000 visitors attended the Dutch Institute. Visit the institute's website at ... http://www.institutneerlandais.com

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