Lifeworld: Portrait and Landscape in Netherlandish Prints, 1550-1650

This exhibition explores a variety of representations of a person’s world, understood in the most comprehensive sense, through the medium of prints. In the hundred years that is this exhibition’s time frame, printmaking in the North and South Netherlands—territories that became the separate countries of The Netherlands and Belgium—was undergoing a rapid evolution in technique, style, and focus. Aspects of personality, of both people and places, their public and private presence, and the range of representational style from ideal to vernacular and naturalistic are all matters that were in a state of flux, as seen in prints by strictly anonymous artists, professional printmakers, and the very greatest masters, including Rembrandt and Van Dyck. A feature of this exhibition is the the presentation of eighteen Van Dyck etchings, among the most precious and beautiful portraits in the history of printmaking, as well as several of Rembrandt’s most intimate landscapes.

Curated by Marjorie B. Cohn, Carl A. Weyerhauser Curator of Prints, Harvard University Art Museums; Joseph L. Koerner, Professor of Fine Arts, Department of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University; and Michael Zell, assistant professor, Department of Art History, Boston University.