Past Exhibition

Gods, Saints, and Heroes

A group of light-skinned people and animals gather in an oval ring around a shallow pool in a wooded landscape in this horizontal painting. Deep in shadow but closest to us, animals, objects, and people create a continuous band in the foreground. From left to right is a horse, a reclining woman and small child, a goat tended by a nude child, a dog sniffing at a pile of crockery, baskets, and metal pans and dishes, a cat lapping from a shallow pewter dish, and a young man drinking from a dish or large shell in the lower right corner. Beyond this and to our right, an older man with gray hair and beard and wearing turquoise, pink, and blue robes taps an outcropping of rocks with a thin rod. Water gushes in thin streams from the outcropping into the pool below. The bearded man is surrounded by several standing men and women. Men, women, and children bend over the edge of the pool around its perimeter, filling or drinking from jugs, dishes, and pans. Most of the men wear long robes and some wear turbans, and the women wear long dresses or robes in teal, aquamarine, shell pink, pale yellow, and ivory. Trees enclose this group to the left and at the center of the painting. Another band of dozens of people, animals, and wagons line the horizon in the distance. They are painted in pale gray, blue, pink, and white. The horizon line comes three-quarters of the way up the composition and glimpses of vibrant blue sky and white clouds are seen through breaks in the trees. Light glints off of clothing, smooth skin, the fur of the animals, and especially the metalware in the foreground to give the painting a glimmering, almost glossy look.
Joachim Anthonisz Wtewael, Moses Striking the Rock, 1624, oil on panel, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1972.11.1

Details

  • Dates

    -

  • Locations

    West Building, Main Floor, Galleries 43 through 51 (10,000 sq. ft.)
A group of light-skinned people and animals gather in an oval ring around a shallow pool in a wooded landscape in this horizontal painting. Deep in shadow but closest to us, animals, objects, and people create a continuous band in the foreground. From left to right is a horse, a reclining woman and small child, a goat tended by a nude child, a dog sniffing at a pile of crockery, baskets, and metal pans and dishes, a cat lapping from a shallow pewter dish, and a young man drinking from a dish or large shell in the lower right corner. Beyond this and to our right, an older man with gray hair and beard and wearing turquoise, pink, and blue robes taps an outcropping of rocks with a thin rod. Water gushes in thin streams from the outcropping into the pool below. The bearded man is surrounded by several standing men and women. Men, women, and children bend over the edge of the pool around its perimeter, filling or drinking from jugs, dishes, and pans. Most of the men wear long robes and some wear turbans, and the women wear long dresses or robes in teal, aquamarine, shell pink, pale yellow, and ivory. Trees enclose this group to the left and at the center of the painting. Another band of dozens of people, animals, and wagons line the horizon in the distance. They are painted in pale gray, blue, pink, and white. The horizon line comes three-quarters of the way up the composition and glimpses of vibrant blue sky and white clouds are seen through breaks in the trees. Light glints off of clothing, smooth skin, the fur of the animals, and especially the metalware in the foreground to give the painting a glimmering, almost glossy look.
Joachim Anthonisz Wtewael, Moses Striking the Rock, 1624, oil on panel, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1972.11.1

Overview: 85 loans comprised this survey of 17th-century Dutch history painting, which illustrated themes of mythology, religion, and allegory. Several works from council chambers in Dutch town halls were included. One of these was displayed in a full-scale recreation of the Haarlem town hall mantelpiece where it had been installed since 1676.

Organization: Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. was the National Gallery coordinator. Elroy Quenroe installed the exhibition at the National Gallery. The exhibition was organized by the Detroit Institute of Arts with the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Sponsor: The exhibition was supported by a planning grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Transportation was provided by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

Attendance: 102,843

Catalog: Gods, Saints, and Heroes: Dutch Painting in the Age of Rembrandt, by A. Blankert et al. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1980.Other Venues:

  • Detroit Institute of Arts, 02/16/1981–04/19/1981
  • Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 05/18/1981–07/19/1981

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