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Gallery Talk: Media as Muse in 17th-Century Dutch Landscape Drawings

A drawing of a field with buildings and trees in the distance.
Aelbert Cuyp, Dutch, View of a Ploughed Field, c. 1639–42. Watercolor, black chalk, and a modified gum arabic on cream antique laid paper; framing line in brown ink. Maida and George Abrams Collection, Boston, Long-term loan, 1.2018.222

Gallery Talk

In-Person
Harvard Art Museums
32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA

Focusing on a small selection of drawings, conservator Penley Knipe will explore how Dutch artists of the 17th century creatively combined drawing media to dazzling effect in their pursuit of rendering local landscapes. Visitors will learn about well-known materials like charcoal and watercolor and lesser-known materials like gum arabic and “oatmeal” paper, as well as how the work of paper conservators advances research and scholarship.

This talk is offered in conjunction with the exhibition Crossroads: Drawing the Dutch Landscape, on view through August 14, 2022.

Our galleries are full of stories—this series of talks gives visitors a chance to hear the best ones! The talks highlight new works on view, take a fresh look at old favorites, investigate artists’ materials and techniques, and reveal the latest discoveries by curators, conservators, fellows, visiting artists, technologists, and other contributors.

Led by:
Penley Knipe, Philip and Lynn Straus Senior Conservator of Works on Paper and Head of Paper Lab, Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies

Gallery talks are limited to 18 people, and it is required that you reserve your place. At 10am the day of the event, reservations will open and may be arranged online through this form. The gallery talk reservation will also serve as your general museum reservation. If required, visitors will pay the museum admission fee upon arrival.

Please meet in the Calderwood Courtyard, in front of the digital screens between the shop and the admissions desk.

Please see the museum visit page to learn about our general policies for visiting the museums.

The Harvard Art Museums are committed to accessibility for all visitors. For anyone requiring accessibility accommodations for our programs, please contact us at am_register@harvard.edu at least 48 hours in advance.

Funding for the Crossroads exhibition and related programming was provided by the Stanley H. Durwood Foundation Support Fund and the M. Victor Leventritt Lecture Series Endowment Fund. The accompanying catalogue was made possible by the Andrew W. Mellon Publication Funds, including the Henry P. McIlhenny Fund, and by the WOLFGANG RATJEN FOUNDATION, Liechtenstein.