SALEM — Deregulated free markets have rarely produced such likable results as they did in the Netherlands in the 17th century. There, for the first time en masse, artists made paintings to hang on the walls of individual citizens, rather than to grace the banquet halls and bedrooms of monarchs.
Ways of seeing and ways of painting proliferated to meet the spreading demand. Subject matter, too, ranged widely, as competitive painters sought to carve out a profitable niche for themselves.
Inevitably, a premium was placed on virtuosity. Painters became known for their ability to capture such optical effects as the sheen of satin, fleeting facial expressions, the matte, dimpled texture of lemon peel, or colored light pouring through clouds, water, and trees.
Dutch pictures in the 17th century were made, in other words, to please — to impress, to amuse, to find buyers. Three centuries later, they are still attracting buyers.
Two of the most avid — Rose-Marie van Otterloo and her husband, Eijk, who made his fortune trading stocks — have, over the past two decades, put together one of the world’s leading private collections of Dutch and Flemish paintings from the 17th century.
The van Otterloos regularly lend works from their collection to museums. But “Golden: Dutch and Flemish Masterworks From the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection’’ at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem marks the first time the collection has been displayed to the public in its entirety. (A smaller version of the exhibition opened at the Mauritshuis in The Hague last fall.)
It’s a stunning show, with nearly 70 paintings. The range and quality of the works is incontestable. The display — largely by theme, with intelligent pairings of paintings with furniture and other objects — is sensitive. The whole exhibit is beautifully spaced.
Given all this, the best thing a reviewer can do is to pick out a handful of highlights. Indulge me, then, while I tell you about the six paintings that had the most noticeable effect on my pulse. (Art criticism: It’s nothing if not scientific.)
PHILIPS WOUWERMAN“The Stag Hunt’’ Nothing like a hunt to get the blood racing. This painting on copper by Philips Wouwerman hangs beside a similar hunting scene by Nicolaes Berchem.
Berchem was good, but he only dabbled in the genre, whereas the prolific Wouwerman, who died before turning 50, painted more than 100 pictures on the theme of the chase, and hundreds more on equestrian themes.
Here, the light invades the landscape from the left, echoing the directional thrust of the chase itself. The stag, we can see at far right, is on the point of being brought down by the dogs. The coup de grace is about to be delivered by a horseman holding a spear.