John O. Hand Bio

John Oliver Hand is the curator of northern Renaissance paintings at the National Gallery of Art, Washington. He was educated at Denison University (B.A., studio art), the University of Chicago (M.A., art history), and Princeton University (M.F.A. and Ph.D., art history).

From 1965 to 1969 Hand was a docent in the education department at the National Gallery of Art. In 1973 he returned to the National Gallery of Art as curator of northern European paintings. Among the exhibitions Hand has helped organize or coordinate for the National Gallery of Art are: The Exhibition of Archaeological Finds of the People’s Republic of China (1974); Master Paintings from the Hermitage and the State Russian Museum (1975); The Age of Bruegel: Netherlandish Drawings of the Sixteenth Century (1986); “The Saint Anne Altarpiece” by Gerard David (1992); Hans Memling’s “Saint John the Baptist” and “Saint Veronica” (1994); and Jan van Eyck’s “Annunciation” (1994).

In addition to numerous articles and reviews in the field of northern Renaissance art, Hand has written the systematic catalogues for the National Gallery’s collections: Early Netherlandish Painting (1986, with Martha Wolff) and German Paintings of the Fifteenth through Seventeenth Centuries (1993). Recent publications include Joos van Cleve: The Complete Paintings (2004) and National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection (2004).

General Information

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden are at all times free to the public. They are located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, and are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1. For information call (202) 737-4215 or the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) at (202) 842-6176, or visit the Gallery's Web site at www.nga.gov.

Visitors will be asked to present all carried items for inspection upon entering the East and West Buildings. Checkrooms are free of charge and located at each entrance. Luggage and other oversized bags must be presented at the 4th Street entrances to the East or West Building to permit x-ray screening and must be deposited in the checkrooms at those entrances. For the safety of visitors and the works of art, nothing may be carried into the Gallery on a visitor's back. Any bag or other items that cannot be carried reasonably and safely in some other manner must be left in the checkrooms. Items larger than 17 x 26 inches cannot be accepted by the Gallery or its checkrooms.

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