MA-MFA

Today, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) , announces that Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo and Susan and Matthew Weatherbie have made a commitment to give their exceptional collections of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish art to the MFA—a donation that will constitute the largest gift of European paintings in Museum history. The Boston-area collectors plan to give the MFA not only their art collections, but also a major research library and funding to establish a Center for Netherlandish Art at the MFA, the first of its kind in the U.S. The donation of 113 works by 76 artists—including one of the finest Rembrandt portraits in private hands—will elevate the Museum’s holdings into one of the country’s foremost collections of Dutch art from the Golden Age and significantly strengthen its representation of Flemish paintings from the time. The Center for Netherlandish Art will encourage scholarship and sharing works of art globally.

“We are extremely grateful to the Van Otterloos and Weatherbies for their deep commitment and for their support of the mission of the Museum in such a generous way,” said Matthew Teitelbaum, Ann and Graham Gund Director. “Rose-Marie, Eijk, Susan and Matt are path-breaking collectors and philanthropists.”

By integrating these two exceptional private collections with the MFA’s, the Museum will nearly double its holdings of Dutch and Flemish paintings. Works from the promised gifts include all categories of Dutch painting for which the republic of the Netherlands was (and is) best known—portraits, genre scenes, landscapes, seascapes, still lifes, flower pictures, cityscapes and architectural paintings. Works by Dutch artists include Jan Steen, Willem Kalf, Jacob Isaacksz. van Ruisdael, Willem van de Velde the Younger, and Rachel Ruysch. Among the Flemish paintings are works by Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, Osias Beert, and Jan Brueghel the Elder. Forty-two of the works will be on view at the MFA for the public to see, starting at 5 pm on October 11 through January 15, 2018. Full press release available .

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Contact:

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Karen Frascona, 617-369-3442
kfrascona@mfa.org

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