10 Lesser Known Treasures of Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum
The gallery of 8,000 artworks has a lot to share
Last week I visited the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam for the first time and was blown away by its collections. The enormous gallery has fast become one of my favourite art museums and is certainly popular with other visitors as one of the most popular tourist destinations in the city.
However, despite its expansive collections, the museum is mostly known for its collections of Rembrandt’s, Vermeer’s and Van Gogh’s, all of which attract a vast crowd, leaving a lot of the rest of the museum free to explore without having to peer over the shoulders of other art-lovers.
Below, I have listed 10 of my favourite pieces from my visit which are just as technically brilliant and visually beautiful as The Night Watch but nowhere near as famous.
Prayer Nut with The Nativity and The Adoration of the Magi
One-half of the ground floor of the Rijksmuseum boasts a stunning collection of Christian art from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. Many of the pieces in these galleries stood out to me but the miniature scenes, including this tiny prayer nut, were especially impressive. Alongside this piece, there is another walnut on display featuring the scene of the crucifixion, in which the minuscule crosses are so fragile they look like they could snap at any moment. The pieces are equally awe-inspiring as they are perplexing as one tries to conceive of how something so detailed could be made without modern technologies.
These biblical scenes inside nut casings were created to be transportable so that one could reflect on and appreciate their faith at a moment's notice, and could be hung from one’s belt in a small velvet pouch. They were, of course, very expensive and crafted for wealthy individuals, as this one was.
The minute pieces should really be seen in person to appreciate the incredible craftsmanship that went into creating the almost microscopic detail half a millennium ago.
Memorial tablet
Close to the prayer walnut, this captivating painting sits in the same ground-floor gallery. The ‘memorial tablet’ captured my attention immediately through its use of symmetry, block colours and jewelled tones, with the composition of the piece leading to the rather jarring uncovered corpse in the centre.
The morbid figure is a reminder to the viewer of their own looming mortality, the text underneath reads: ‘Whoever passes by, look and weep. What you are, I once was, what I am, you will become, I beseech you to pray for me’.
Buckle in the shape of a bat
This unusual piece caught my eye immediately among the exquisite jewellery collection on display, well worth making time for on your visit. The artist is a master of metalwork and has treated the silver (possibly with acid) to give it the varying dark tones which make the bat’s skin more realistic.
Memento Mori Ring
Another eye-catching oddity among the jewellery collections is this memento mori ring, which should also be seen in person to truly appreciate the craftsmanship and tiny details of the piece. Whilst at first it may seem that one side of the ring represents a living woman and the other side showing her dead, the figure on the left is actually an angel, which, along with the skull and its hourglass, reminds the wearer of death and the impermanence of life on Earth. The text in the book can be translated as ‘For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain’ and the inscription inside reads heavily ‘our life on Earth is a shadow’.
Party of Armenians Playing Cards
Tucked away in a small room off of the main galleries, this painting is easily missed, especially if only visiting the museum to see the big hitters. A stunning example of candlelight captured through brushstrokes, the single flame of the candle flickers off the gold accents of the turbans of the party guests.
More of the Flemish-French artist Jean Baptiste Vanmour’s paintings accompany this one in room 1.3, depicting other stunning scenes of life under the Ottoman Empire.
La Liseuse
The soft, pastel colours of this painting stand out against the Rijksmuseum’s darker collections of Rembrandts and oil paintings. The hazy, mellow quality of the piece is achieved by the artist’s use of pastels, and in fact, Jean-Etienne Liotard used this piece to prove his gifts as a pastellist at the court of Versailles in 1748. Liotard is also known for painting his subjects in a happier and more relaxed manner, contrasting the seriousness seen in art at the time.
Airs and Graces
This playful scene was painted by the British female painter Laura Theresa Alma Tadema and depicts a young girl dancing whilst a man plays the lute and her mother looks anxiously on. Despite Tadema painting in the late 19th to the early 20th century, Airs and Graces is reminiscent of and likely based on Dutch paintings of the 17th century and features from the painting suggest that she may have been inspired by the Rijksmuseum’s own leading man, Johannes Vermeer.
The Singel Bridge at the Paleisstraat in Amsterdam
This painting needs to be seen up close to fully experience the feeling it invokes in the viewer. The woman confronting the onlooker is life-size when viewed in person and one feels like they are truly stepping into late 19th century Netherlands and passing by the stylish lady as she rushes by. The candid, un-posed-for scene feels incredibly modern and is more reminiscent of 21st-century street photography than the usual sophisticated and controlled paintings of the 1900s.
Overshadowed by the more popular Van Gogh’s in the room, this painting should not be overlooked on your visit.
Dolls’ house of Petronella Oortman
Petronella Oortman’s dollhouse is so huge that it has its own viewing platform for visitors to stand on and see the inside of the not-so-miniature house more clearly. One of two dollhouses in room 2.20, this one does not feature dolls or figurines, which makes it easier to see the detail and decoration of the rooms.
The mini-mansion was made with exceptional care and all the proportions in the house are exactly right, unlike the dollhouses many of us may have played with in our childhoods. However, Oortman actually commissioned the house as an adult, as was popular for wealthy women of the time as a symbol of status and affluence.
Two plaques with portraits of Robertus Junius and Dionysius Spranckhuysen
Found amongst a wall of Deft blue tiles and pottery, this set of portraits stands out against the floral and pastoral scenes that the Dutch blue-on-white ceramics usually portray.
Unsurprisingly, the country’s largest art museum has a considerable collection of the famous Delftware pottery, originally from the city of Delft in the Netherlands but now recognised as a symbol of the country itself and is a popular style of souvenir for tourists.
Of course, the famous pieces at the Rijksmuseum are a must-see, but, as evidenced above, the museum is much more than its most well-known paintings.
If visiting and wanting to see most of the collections on display, make sure to schedule in around 3 hours, and more if you need a coffee break.
Thank you for reading and feel free to share your favourite piece from the Rijksmuseum in the comments.
