The Dixon Gallery and Gardens presents Rembrandt, Rubens, and the Golden Age of Painting from the Speed Art Museum an exhibition on view January 22, 2012 – Sunday, April 15, 2012.
Jan Brueghel the Elder (Flemish, 1568 -1625) Hendrikvan BalenI (Flemish, 1575 -1632) A Bacchanal, about 1608-1616 Oil on panel. Museum purchase
Tremendous changes swept Europe between 1600 and 1800, the years in which the art in this exhibition was produced. Religious upheavals transformed the way people thought about and utilized art. Trade routes to faraway lands, such as China and India, became more established, ensuring a steady stream of exotic goods for European consumers. Advances in the sciences transformed long held views on the way the universe worked and the place of humans within that universe. Technical aspects of art making were honed and codified, as art academies grew in number and power.
These exciting times resulted in a golden age of European painting. The number of artists and the number of art collectors grew exponentially during this period, as the fine arts reached an increasingly wider audience. Rembrandt, Rubens, and the Golden Age of Painting features art from this remarkable period from the permanent collection of the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, with examples by Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony Van Dyck, Jan Steen, Jacob van Ruisdael, William Hogarth, Thomas Gainsborough, and Pompeo Batoni.
Comprised of the major genres of painting that were popular at this time—portraits, religious paintings, landscapes, scenes of everyday life, still lifes, and interpretations of classical antiquity—this exhibition illustrates both the people and the objects that made the two centuries between 1600 and 1800 such a rich cultural age. Highlighting work from Italy, France, Spain, Flanders, the Netherlands, Germany, and England, Rembrandt, Rubens, and the Golden Age of Painting illustrates how the tremendous changes in religion and science, coupled with the economic growth that swept Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, gave way to a period of incredible artistic creation.
Founded in 1976 by Hugo and Margaret Dixon, the Dixon Gallery and Gardens is a fine art museum and public garden distinguished by its diverse and innovative programs in the arts and horticulture. The Dixon features a permanent collection of over 2,000 objects, including French and American Impressionist paintings and significant holdings of German and English porcelain. The museum organizes and presents eight to ten exhibitions every year, the diversity of which appeals to visitors of all ages. The Dixon’s 17 acre campus is highly regarded public garden that includes formal spaces, woodland tracts, and cutting gardens. The Dixon is accredited by the American Association Museums and is a member of the American Public Gardens Association and Botanical Gardens Conservation International.
Dixon Gallery and Gardens, 4339 Park Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee 38117
Office: (901) 761-5250 FAX: (901) 682-0943
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