PRESS DOSSIER - Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium · 2016-03-16 · 3 g.co/UnseenMasterpieces Preservingand sharing heritage The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium launched

1

www.fine-arts-museum.be g.co/UnseenMasterpieces

PRESS DOSSIER

Index

I. Press release II. At the crossroads of Art and Technology III. A Project with international reach IV. At the museum: side events V. Appendix

1. Bruegel the Elder's Legacy: between conservation and dissemination 2. Important dates in the life of Pieter Bruegel the Elder 3. Publications 4. Partners

g.co/UnseenMasterpieces

I. Press release

When Art Meets Technology: Bruegel's works unveiled like never before Brussels – On 15 March 2016, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium and the Google Cultural Institute are launching the Bruegel / Unseen Masterpieces / project, for the first time ever, bringing together eight prestigious international museums around the figure of Bruegel the Elder. Drawing on a wide spectrum of virtual and onsite experiences, this unique initiative offers everyone the chance to immerse themselves in Bruegel's masterpieces. The artworks - many of which haven’t been moved for over 100 years due to their fragility - are now brought together with the help of cutting-edge technology. Amongst the works are 12 paintings, representing a quarter of Bruegel’s painted work, which are now online in ultra-high resolution, using a technology as ‘gigapixel’. The Google Cultural Institute is fast becoming the reference platform for Bruegel’s works, with 45 paintings, drawings, prints and a woodblock accessible online. “Unseen masterpieces” ? Using ultra-high resolution gigapixel imagery, Bruegel / Unseen Masterpieces / allows people to delve into the depths of Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s († Brussels, 1569) works. The viewer will discover the unexpected details in Bruegel's paintings which constitute the pinnacle of the Flemish master’s craft. While the artist and his art are

2


known worldwide, every composition also depicts a whole host of characters – some surprising, others familiar – and vignettes that provide the subtext of history: these are masterpieces worthy of exploration in their own right. A unique experience at the crossroads of art and technology As part of the Bruegel / Unseen Masterpieces / project, 12 of Bruegel's masterpieces from some of the most prestigious museums in the world are presented in detail invisible to the naked eye, thanks to technology provided by the Google Cultural Institute. The resulting images, together with iconographic resources and expert knowledge from each museum, have produced innovative experiences which let the public view a vast array of details and stories:

- 19 virtual exhibitions exploring the painter's masterpieces and documenting his life, influences and legacy are now available to all on the Google Cultural Institute website. At the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, 12 of these multimedia exhibitions are presented on interactive terminals developed specially for this project.

- The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium have also developed the unique apparatus of the Bruegel

Box, created with the support of global energy player Engie. In one of the museum's rooms, immersive videos - each dedicated to a painting - are projected on three walls, floor to ceiling, thanks to a sophisticated system of projectors and ultra-high resolution images provided by the Google Cultural Institute. Spectators will get shoulder-to-shoulder with the villagers of Bruegel’s Proverbs (1559), face to face with the palm reader of the Sermon of Saint John the Baptist (1566) or have The Fall of the Rebel Angels (1562) at their fingertips.

- The Google Cardboard virtual reality viewer provides another cutting-edge experience centred

around The Fall of the Rebel Angels, using a smartphone to plunge the viewer into a 360 degree universe. This virtual reality experience is available on the YouTube channel of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. The painting comes to life in front of your eyes: you too become one of Bruegel’s creatures.

Bringing together artworks from 8 museums and 7 countries The Bruegel / Unseen Masterpieces / project uses advanced technology to bring together many of the Flemish master’s best-known works, making much of Bruegel’s collection accessible to all. With the support of the Google Cultural Institute, a quarter of Bruegel the Elder's paintings (out of some 40 currently known works by the painter) can now be admired in ultra-high definition. Eight prestigious museums, many of them from Europe, contributed to this first phase of the initiative:

● Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels ● The Frick Collection, New York ● Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin ● The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York ● Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam ● Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest ● Royal Collection Trust, London ● Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

3


Preserving and sharing heritage The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium launched this project jointly with the Google Cultural Institute in the run up to the 450th anniversary of Bruegel's death in 2019 and the public opening of the Bruegel House in Brussels in the same year. While nothing can replace the experience of seeing the original, digital technology offers new solutions to tackle the fragility of old pieces of artwork. It helps to preserve this invaluable and irreplaceable heritage and also provides a new way of seeing the works and promotes access to culture, by reaching out to a wider spectrum of people. --- THE PROJECT IN FIGURES Online:

8 of Bruegel's works accessible for the first time in ultra-high resolution (gigapixel) making for a total of 12 of Bruegel's paintings now available online in this format 19 virtual exhibitions by 8 partner museums 1 virtual reality experience dedicated to The Fall of the Rebel Angels available to view using a Cardboard viewer

In the museum:

3 immersive videos projected in the Bruegel Box, dedicated to works by Bruegel on display in Brussels, Berlin and Budapest 9 interactive terminals in 5 areas of the Old Masters collection of ancient art at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium

QUOTES "Thanks to technology, a new dialogue is opening up between visitors and paintings in the museum. Through the interplay of screens and paintings, everyone can now virtually step into the artworks to gain knowledge and learn new stories. The encounter between art and technology makes it possible to reveal secrets as yet unknown to the general public." “Most of Bruegel’s paintings are wooden panels which are very fragile and therefore difficult to move. Thanks to the idea of using new technology, future generations will be able to see these works that have survived history. In detail, in every imaginable way, freely, how, when and where they want.” Michel Draguet (General Director of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium)

4


"Today, we've taken Bruegel's ideas and methods a step further with 21st-century digital technology. Using ultra-high resolution images, virtual reality, and other immersive tools, we're bringing viewers further into Bruegel's strangely familiar scenes. It's as if we've been invited to a Flemish wedding feast, a skating party, or a harvest festival 500 years ago. We invite you to experience Bruegel's world online or inside the Museum." Amit Sood (Director of Google Cultural Institute) “The Lab at the Google Cultural Institute is a place to experiment with partners around new tools and ideas. It’s been a privilege to work with the curatorial team of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium on new concepts for immersion and engagement with digital cultural content, within the walls of the museum” Laurent Gaveau (Director of the Lab, Google Cultural Institute) About the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium hold Belgium's largest fine art collection. Some 20,000 works of art and six museums tell the story of our history, from the 15th to the 21st century, through painting, sculpture and drawing. The Old Masters, Magritte, Fin-de-Siècle, Modern (selection) museums and the Wiertz and Meunier homes and studios are unique cultural heritage and also provide a place for exploring the future, reflecting as a citizen, and forming our contemporary identities. About the Google Cultural Institute The Google Cultural Institute and its partners are putting the world’s cultural treasures at the fingertips of Internet users and are building tools that allow the cultural sector to share more of its diverse heritage online. The Google Cultural Institute has partnered with more than 1000 institutions from 70 countries, giving a platform to over 200 thousand artworks and a total of 6 million photos, videos, manuscripts and other documents of art, culture and history. About Engie Engie is a global energy player and an expert operator in the three businesses of electricity, natural gas and energy services.

5


II. At the crossroads of art and technology

A unique digital experience As the 450th anniversary of Bruegel's death approaches, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium are preparing to open the Bruegel House to the public, a place where he is thought to have lived during his time in Brussels. It is in this context that the museum called upon Google's expertise to think up digital solutions for this new cultural hub, open to everyone. The Bruegel / Unseen Masterpieces / project was born from this exchange, at the crossroads of art and technology.

Copyrights : © Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels / photo : J. Geleyns / Ro scan

● Ultra-high resolution As a partner of the museum since 2011, the Google Cultural Institute had already digitised The Fall of the Rebel Angels (1562) in ultra-high definition. As part of the Bruegel / Unseen Masterpieces / project, all of Pieter Bruegel's works held at the museum were digitised using gigapixel technology. All these works are now available online providing a level of detail which is usually invisible to the naked eye.

Detail from The Fall of the Rebel Angels, Pieter Bruegel, 1562 © Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels

6


Copyrights : © Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels In Berlin and Budapest, three paintings were digitized with that same technology: The Proverbs (1559) and Two Monkeys (1562), held at the Gemäldegalerie, and the Sermon of Saint John the Baptist (1566), shown at the Museum of Fine Arts of Budapest. The resulting images, together with iconographic resources from participating museums and expert knowledge from their curators, have helped design innovative experiences which enhance the visitor's perspective and let every internet user bear witness to a vast array of details and stories.

● Online exhibitions Nineteen virtual exhibitions have been designed by the project's various partners, exploring the painter's masterpieces and documenting his life, influences and legacy. Twelve of these exhibitions were created by the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, and are accessible inside the museum using the interactive terminals, letting visitors gain more in-depth knowledge and a better view of the real-life artworks. Each exhibition brings together paintings, texts, archival documents, and audio and video clips to provide context and aid understanding for all members of the public, from fine art experts to complete newcomers.

● Immersive videos With Engie's support, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium have come up with the unique concept of the Bruegel Box, an artistic immersion project. A sophisticated system of projectors has been set up in one of the museum's rooms, projecting immersive, high-definition videos onto three walls of the room, plunging visitors into the master's works to reveal their secrets. These immersive projections will successively highlight the great masterpieces in our collections. Three works are available in the Bruegel Box in March 2016: The Fall of the Rebel Angels (1562), The Sermon of St. John the Baptist (1566) and the Proverbs (1559), on display in Brussels, Budapest and Berlin, respectively.

7


● Cardboard / Virtual reality When supplemented with cultural content, virtual reality provides an experience which delights the artistic senses and encourages new relationships with the works. Combining excitement and wonder, it stimulates a sense of curiosity for people of all ages. Cardboard is one of the best examples of this potential. Dreamed up in 2014 by two engineers from the Google Cultural Institute, these virtual reality goggles are made simply from cardboard, plastic lenses and a magnet. You put a smartphone in it and it projects a stereoscopic image. And so the adventure begins... Accessible and easy to use, Cardboard plunges users into a 360 degree universe. Over the last two years, numerous developers, engineers and artists have been infatuated with Cardboard and have already made this open-source technology their own. Nearly a thousand cardboard applications have been created in two years.

As part of the Bruegel / Unseen Masterpieces / project, the Google Cultural Institute has designed an immersive experience which lets you explore The Fall of the Rebel Angels as you have never seen it before. Detail by detail, the painting comes to life in front of your eyes, in the light of explanations given during the virtual guided visit.

8


This experience is available to all via the YouTube channel of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, in English, French and Dutch: https://youtu.be/bXR9EEmb-JU

From virtual reality to interactive terminals, these different technological experiments are all designed to stimulate the interest of every member of the general public, in preparation for the 2019 celebrations. THE GOOGLE CULTURAL INSTITUTE The Google Cultural Institute and its partners are putting the world’s cultural treasures at the fingertips of Internet users and are building tools that allow the cultural sector to share more of its diverse heritage online. The Google Cultural Institute has partnered with more than 1000 institutions from 70 countries, giving a platform to over 200 thousand artworks and a total of 6 million photos, videos, manuscripts and other documents of art, culture and history. Read more here. The aim of the Google Cultural Institute is twofold, enabling users to discover artworks in new ways and helping the cultural sector to make the most of digital opportunities.

● The Google Cultural Institute enables the culturally curious to discover, explore and share cultural treasures of the world in a new way, in extraordinary details thanks to immersive technologies and through the stories underlying artworks and historical moments.

● For hundred of years, cultural institutions have collected and safeguarded our history and heritage. With its Cultural Institute, Google helps them to bring cultural heritage online with powerful technologies to digitise, showcase artworks in new ways and reach a wider audience.

THE ROYAL MUSEUMS OF FINE ARTS OF BELGIUM

The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium hold Belgium's largest fine art collection. Some 20,000 works of art and six museums tell the story of our history, from the 15th to the 21st century, through painting, sculpture and drawing.

The Oldmasters, Magritte, Fin-de-Siècle, Modern (selection) museums and the Wiertz and Meunier homes and studios are part of our cultural heritage and also provide a place for exploring the future, reflecting as a citizen, and forming our contemporary identities.

9


Home to some of the country's most interesting sites including the most visited museums in Belgium, the second biggest Bruegel collection in the world, the world's largest Magritte collection and various other stunning collections, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium strives to be a cultural, scientific and social centre at the service of society and social development. With the advent of new technologies and increased accessibility for everyone, museums are constantly offering a new take on masterpieces by Bruegel, Rubens, Jordaens, David, Rodin, Ensor, Gauguin, Khnopff, Moore, Delvaux, Magritte, Broodthaers, Fabre, and others.

10


III. A PROJECT WITH INTERNATIONAL REACH Bringing together the world's greatest collections Approximately 40 painted works by Bruegel the Elder still exist today and those that remain are dotted across the world. The Bruegel / Unseen Masterpieces / project therefore has an international aim to use technology to bring together the known and preserved paintings by the Flemish master, with a view to putting together a digital retrospective which is accessible to all. Through the Google Cultural Institute's help and the involvement of eight big museum institutions, in 2016, the initiative reached the first stage towards achieving its objective by bringing together a quarter of the Flemish master's works in ultra high resolution. Like the project's first contributors, every museum which holds one or more of Bruegel’s paintings is invited to join this unique project marking the birth of a new type of scientific partnership for the museums involved.

● The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels The Fall of the Rebel Angels (1562) Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels In The Fall of the Rebel Angels, Pieter Bruegel shows us both the beginning and end of time, representing the punishment of Lucifer and the killing of the apocalyptic dragon by Archangel Michael. This rich and diverse piece presents a multitude of marvellous and monstrous creatures, showing evolving techniques in the 16th century as well as the curiosity for the New World.

Detail from The Fall of the Rebel Angels (1562), Pieter Bruegel the Elder © Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels The detail in a plume of feathers or ruby red of an insect shell reflect the fascination and fear provoked by the Americas, which at the time were very popular in cabinets of curiosities.

11


Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (undated) Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels The Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, a true masterpiece, is neither signed nor dated. It appeared on the art market in 1912 and became part of the collection at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in the same year. The painting has been shrouded in mystery ever since. The composition is so dazzling that numerous curators identify it as one of the famous painter's creations. However, to date, none of the technical tests carried out on the piece, including the most recent ones, have been able to confirm the piece's attribution.

Detail from Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (undated), Pieter Bruegel the Elder © Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels In the composition, the presence of Icarus himself is but a mere detail. Only the legs of the mythic hero can be seen desperately flailing in the air, surrounded by a fine shower of feathers. Around him, the rest of the world remains unperturbed, as if unaffected by his demise. The Winter Landscape with Skaters and Bird Trap (1565) Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels Winter holds a particularly important place in Bruegel's work, to such an extent that Bruegel is considered to be the creator of a pictorial tradition which would become extremely popular in Holland over the following century: the painting of winter landscapes. These winter scenes are often accompanied by a litany of picturesque and anecdotal details depicted with tenderness and humour by Bruegel, as is the case in the Winter Landscape with Skaters and Bird Trap.

Detail from Winter Landscape with Skaters and Bird Trap (1565), Pieter Bruegel the Elder

12


© Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels In this painting, hidden meanings seem to warn the viewer. In the bottom right-hand corner of the painting, the bird trap warns of us against the dangers of living and that life is as slippery and uncertain as the ice that the villagers are skating upon unconcernedly. The Census at Bethlehem (1566) Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels Nothing is still in Bruegel's The Census at Bethlehem, the viewer is presented with a remarkable number of characters and situations. Despite this, the work is dedicated to a very specific biblical event, an event which is relegated to a minor detail in the composition. Joseph and Mary are arriving in Bethlehem to register themselves, upon the orders of Cesar Augustus. Bruegel set this scene in his native 16th century Low Countries.

Detail from The Census at Bethlehem (1566), Pieter Bruegel the Elder © Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels One of the details which makes this scene contemporary to Bruegel's time is hidden on the façade of the inn in the foreground: an official message with the Habsburg coat of arms, the reigning family at the time.

● Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

© Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen and museum garden, studio Hans Wilschut

13


Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, holds in its collections The Tower of Babel (c. 1565), available in gigapixel format since 2014. A virtual exhibition is dedicated to the artwork on the platform of the Google Cultural Institute, exploring the secrets of this world famous masterpiece.

Detail from The tower of Babel (c.1565), Pieter Bruegel The Elder © Studio Tromp, Rotterdam In this famous painting Bruegel depicts the biblical story of man's hubris and their desire to build a tower that reached to the heavens: god punished them with a Babelonian confusion of tongues. Countless people are flocking around the structure, which reaches to the clouds. Ancient art scholars think Bruegel took inspiration for the architecture of his tower from the Colosseum in Rome.

● Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

© Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / Achim Kleuker The Proverbs (1559) and Two Monkeys (1562) are part of the collections of the Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. They now exist in ultra high resolution on the platform of the Google Cultural Institute. A virtual exhibition is dedicated to the Proverbs (1559). About 120 proverbs are hidden in this picture, full of incongruous scenes inspired by the beliefs of the time.

14


Detail from The Proverbs (1559), Pieter Bruegel the Elder © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie Inside a house, two men pull each other by their nose, expressing the saying “to lead one another by the nose” : the two are tricking each other. A third man hanging backwards from the window, is holding a deck of cards in his hands : he represents an old saying according to which “fools get the best cards”.

● Szépmüvészeti Múzeum (Museum of Fine Arts), Budapest

© Museum of Fine Arts Budapest The Preaching of Saint John the Baptist (1566) is shown at the Szépmüvészeti Múzeum in Budapest. This work now is featured on the platform of the Google Cultural Institute in gigapixel format. In the virtual exhibition dedicated to the artwork, the reader will discover how the artist, updating the scene of the sermon, hid in his painting multiple elements of daily life from the 16th century.

15


Detail from The Sermon of Saint John the Baptist (1566), Pieter Bruegel the Elder © Museum of Fine Arts Budapest In this painting by Bruegel the Elder, held at the Museum of Fine Arts of Budapest, John is the center of the crowd’s attention. But paradoxically, our gaze is attracted elsewhere. Caught in a sea of faces and costumes, the spectator’s eye is drawn to a multitude of details and expressions. Near the preacher’s pointing left, for example, a man is listening to each word in an almost delirious state. He rests his head in his hand, with his mouth open, and eyes closed.

● Royal Collection Trust, London

Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2016 / John Freeman Massacre of the Innocents (around 1566) is part of the British Royal Collection. It can be admired at Windsor Castle, one of the three official residences of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. An online exhibition is dedicated to this artwork. This exhibition describes how the painting was altered in the years following its creation and how certain details were concealed due to their subversive nature. The title of the work was also changed several times for the same reasons.

16


Detail from Massacre of the innocents (c.1565-1567), Pieter Bruegel the Elder © Royal Collection Trust / Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2016 Bruegel’s Massacre of the Innocents illustrates King Herod’s order, after Jesus’ birth, that all children in Bethlehem under the age of two should be murdered. Shortly after its creation, the painting quickly came into the possession of the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolph II, in Prague. The slaughtered babies were then painted over with details such as bundles, food and animals so that, instead of a massacre, it appeared to be a more general scene of plunder. The shadow of the infants can be seen underneath the over-painted areas.

● Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue Facade / Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art The Harvesters, held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, belongs to a series commissioned by the Antwerp merchant Niclaes Jongelinck for his suburban home. The cycle originally included six paintings showing the times of the year, five of which survive.

17


Detail from The Harvesters (1565), Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Oil on panel © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1919.19.164 Walking from the fields to the port, these women accompany us into the landscape. We wander through varied scenes of rural life: from a pond with bathing monks to a village gathering with children playing, passing by apple thieves, ran after by guards. Outfits, occupations, food: each detail contributes to immersing us in the scene.

● The Frick Collection, New York

Copyrights : © The Frick Collection, New York, Fifth Avenue Garden and façade with magnolias in bloom / Photo: Michael Bodycomb The Three soldiers (1568) is part of the permanent collection at The Frick Collection in New York. The artwork is now accessible in high definition on the Google Cultural Institute platform. Through a virtual exhibition, the Frick shares with the public the painting's hidden details and stories.

18


Detail from Three Soldiers (1568), Pieter Bruegel the Elder © The Frick Collection, New York This little panel, once in the collection of Charles I of England, represents a trio of Landsknechte, the mercenary foot soldiers whose picturesque costumes and swashbuckling airs provided popular images for printmakers in the sixteenth century. As is evident in this detail, this painting is a grisaille, executed in tones ranging from subdued whites in the highlights to blacks in the background and in the shadows on the figures. Brownish tones of the ground now show through the thinly painted surface, giving the grisaille a warmer tonality than it originally had.

● The Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

© Magnus Kaslov/SMK Christ Driving the Traders from the Temple (after 1569) was formerly attributed to Pieter Bruegel the Elder. In the virtual exhibition dedicated to the artwork, the Statens Museum for Kunst of Copenhagen explores the reasons why experts have seen the trademark the Flemish master in it, and how a recent study of this painting, and three others with the exact same motif, have revealed new insights into its origins and multilayered meanings.

19


Detail from Christ driving the Traders from the Temple (after 1569), Unknown Artist CC0/Public Domain, Statens Museum for Kunst This artwork, undoubtedly inspired by Bosch, points at the vices of men while representing various forms of greed and trickery. Among the many details of this painting, we can observe a charlatan, curing a lady by pulling out one of her teeth. In the meantime, a man in the audience is being stolen.

20


IV. At the museum : Individual or guided tours to rediscover Bruegel

Rue de la Régence 3 | 1000 Brussels Tuesday > Sunday | 10:00 > 17:00 WE : 11:00 > 18:00 Closed on Mondays, November 1 and 11, December 25, January 1 and 8 Admission Fees € 8 adults € 6 seniors € 2 youth, people with disabilities and escort, teachers € 0 friends of the Museum, ICOM members, children under 5 accompanied by an adult Guided Tours Duration : 1h30 Price : 65€/group of max. 15 (WE : 80€) + 6€ (group fee) entrance p.p. Foreign language +12,5€/guide [email protected] T +32 (0)2 508 33 33

21


V. Appendix

V. APPENDIX 1. BRUEGEL THE ELDER'S LEGACY Bridging the gap between conservation and dissemination While Bruegel is one of the most famous Flemish painters, a large exhibition has not been dedicated to him in Belgium since 1980. This exhibition, entitled The Bruegel Dynasty, was not a retrospective in the true sense of the word as the majority of the works on display were paintings carried out by the Bruegel sons. The exhibition, which took place as part of the Europalia festival, was a great public success as is shown in this archive photograph. Throughout the whole of Autumn 1980, visitors hurried to see the Flemish master's works.

© Christian Carez

"[...] in the square in front of the Royal Palace, coaches as far as the eye can see; a constant flow of French, Dutch, Belgians from the provinces [...]. People running, crossing the square, shouting, before bravely joining the queue which is slowly snaking its way to the entrance of the Palace of Fine Arts. [...] the weather is mild and it is only a few hours before the Bruegel exhibition closes. I'm going to join the crowds. Like everyone, I'm pushing a little! A large woman with the air of a retired teacher pushes me back with contempt. A foldable umbrella is sticking out of her bag and she blocks me to one side with it. I'm sure she did it on purpose! "What chaos", she says to someone else [...]" Colette Bertot, "Les dernières heures de Brueghel" [The Last Hours of Bruegel], in La Libre Belgique, 21 November 1980.

22


Why then, since 1980, has no one in his homeland organised another large-scale exhibition dedicated to the great master? There are two main reasons: exorbitant insurance costs, but, above all, the extremely fragile nature of the works themselves. As was customary at the time, most of Bruegel's works are oil paintings on wooden panels – generally oak – and are therefore very sensitive to the slightest change in temperature or humidity. It has been difficult from Bruegel's time onwards to organise a large touring retrospective of the Flemish painter's work.

Detail from The Numbering at Bethleem (1566), Pieter Bruegel the Elder Copyrights : © Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium are home to the world's second-largest collection of works by Bruegel the Elder. They started to reflect on these questions many years ago.

Copyrights : © Ilan Weiss / Daniel piaggio In 1969, the museum presented the "Bruegel and his World" exhibition, marking the 400th anniversary of the painter's death.

"Obvious security issues make it impossible to transport fragile works which are dotted around in different locations. The aim of this exhibition is to reunite all of Bruegel's works for the first time in an imaginary museum, through the juxtaposition of black and white photographs in the format of the original works."

23


Philippe Roberts-Jones, Bruegel and his World, Brussels, MRBAB, 1969

Copyrights : © KIK-IRPA, Brussels Half a century after the "Bruegel and his World" exhibition, the problem has yet to be solved. The technical resources available, however, have changed beyond recognition.

24


VI. APPENDIX 2. Important dates in the life of Pieter Bruegel the Elder Date and place of birth unknown – probably Bruegel or Antwerp, around 1525-1530 Circa 1545-1550 Thought to have been a pupil of Pieter Coecke van Aelst (workshop in Antwerp

and then Brussels); probably introduced to the art of miniatures by Coecke's wife, Mayken Verhulst

1551 Registered with the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp 1551-1552 Worked with Pieter Balten on the panels of an altarpiece destined for

Saint-Rombaut cathedral (no longer standing) for the Malines glove-maker's guild. The commission was passed on to them by the painter and art trader Claude Dorisi

1552 Doubtless Bruegel's first professional contact with print publisher Hieronymus Cock. First dated drawings

1552-1554 Voyage in Italy, probably via Lyon, maybe in the company of painter Maarten de

Vos and sculptor Jacob Jongelinck 1553-1554 In Rome, where he regularly met the miniaturist Giulio Clovio; during this period

He visited the south of Italy (Reggio di Calabria) 1554 He returned to the Netherlands doubtless passing via Venice and the Alps 1554-1562 He very probably lived in Antwerp and worked mainly on printing projects with

Hieronymus Cock and his "Quatre Vents" publishing house 1557 First dated paintings 1560 He produced the only etching that has been attributed to him 1561-1562 He focusses more on painting, maybe inspired by Nicolaes Jongelinck, who was,

within the artist's lifetime, the biggest commissioner and collector of Bruegel's Works

Circa 1562 Moved to Brussels

1563 Married Mayken Coecke, daughter of Pieter Coecke and Mayjen Verhulst in the Notre-Dame-de-la-Chapelle church in Brussels

1563 Dedicated himself entirely to his painting career; besides Jongelink, those who

commissioned his works included the geographer and humanist Abraham Ortelius, Antwerp Mint Master Jan Noirot, and the Cardinal Antoine Perennot de Granvelle, archbishop of Malines

1563/64 Birth of his son Pieter – Pieter Brueghel the Younger

25


1567 Ludovico Giucciardini sings Bruegel's praises in his work on the Netherlands Entitled Descrittione di Tutti i Paesi Bassi

1568 Giorgio Vasari commended him in the second edition of his famous Lives of the

Artists Birth of his son Jan – Jan Brueghel the Younger Last known paintings and drawings Circa 1568/69 The City of Brussels commissioned him to depict the excavation of the

Brussels-Antwerp canal (in 1575) 1569 Died in Brussels and was buried in the Notre-Dame-de-la-Chapelle church

Source: Manfred Sellink, Bruegel, The Complete Paintings, Drawings ans Prints, Ludion, 2007.

26


VI. APPENDIX 3. Publications In December 2014, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium presented the results of several years of research on the works of Pieter Bruegel the Elder. This book revealed some long kept secrets about the painting, in particular its rendering of fantastic creatures and enigmatic objects and traces unexpected links between art, knowledge and politics in Bruegel’s time.

Technical sheet Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Fall of the Rebel Angels Art, Knowledge and Politics on the Eve of the Dutch Revolt

© Silvana Editoriale, 2014 Author: Tine L. Meganck Cahier n° 16 of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium Publisher : Silvana Editoriale, 2014 Release date: 05.12.2014 17 × 24 cm 208 pages 100 illustrations Soft cover English EAN 978883662920-6 € 28,00 (Available at the Museum Shop and large book stores)

27


Synopsis of the publication Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Fall of the Rebel Angels Art, Knowledge and Politics on the Eve of the Dutch Revolt Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Fall of the Rebel Angels is the first comprehensive book on one of the most cherished masterpieces of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels. It argues that with his Fall of the Rebel Angels (1562) Pieter Bruegel (died 1569) turned a traditional devotional theme into an innovative commentary on his own time, and situates the painting within the early modern cultures of knowledge and collecting. More particularly, it exposes that many of the hybrid falling angels are carefully composed of naturalia and artificialia, as they were collected in art and curiosity cabinets of the time. Bruegel’s much noted emulation of Jheronymus Bosch was thus only part of his wider interest in collecting, inspecting, and imitating the artistic and natural world around him. This prompts an examination of the world at the time that Bruegel painted the Fall of the Rebel Angels: locally, in the urban and courtly centres of Antwerp and Brussels on the eve of the Dutch revolt, and globally, as the discovery of the New World irreversibly transformed the European perception of art and nature. Painted as a tale of hubris and pride, Bruegel’s masterpiece becomes a meditation on the potential and danger of man’s pursuit of art, knowledge and politics, a universal theme that has lost nothing of its power today.

Spreads

© Silvana Editoriale, 2014

28


© Silvana Editoriale, 2014

29


VI. APPENDIX 4. Partners

1. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

The National Museums in Berlin, housed in historical buildings, constitute a Universal Museum for the preservation, research and mediation of treasures of art and culture of the entire history of humanity. Their collections embrace the areas of European and extra- European art, archaeology and ethnology. The National Museums in Berlin, the origins of which lie in the foundation of the Royal Museum through Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia, belong to the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz. Further members of the Foundation are the State Library, the State Archive, the Ibero-American Institute and the State Institute for Music Research with the Museum of Musical Instruments. Supported collectively by the German government and the federal states, the National Museums in Berlin regard themselves as a national institution of cultural federalism in Germany. The National Museums in Berlin can be found at five locations in Berlin: Museum Island Berlin / Mitte, Kulturforum, Tiergarten, Charlottenburg, Dahlem and Köpenick.

2. Szépművészeti Múzeum (Museum of Fine Arts), Budapest

Budapest’s Museum of Fine Arts is a hidden treasure trove of incomparable masterpieces. Even though the museum has the most significant European art collection anywhere between Vienna and Saint Petersburg, it is still one of the “best kept secrets” of the European museum map, the wealth of which never fails to impress first time visitors. The splendid collection preserved by our capital on the Danube includes masterpieces of all kinds of art from ancient times to the present day. The Museum display a series of world-famous artworks to visitors not only by Giorgione, Raphael, Titian, Brueghel, El Greco, Velázquez, Goya, Manet, Monet, Cézanne and Gauguin but by many other masters too. The Museum of Fine Arts Budapest is closed now for renovation of the building, therefore it cannot be visited until the spring of 2018. A selection of 50-60 artworks from the Museum’s collections is on show in the Hungarian National Gallery.

3. Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

The SMK is the National Gallery of Denmark and the largest art museum in the country. Every day we study art, restore it, photograph it, move it, exhibit it, and discuss it. Guests can explore art in their own way and join us for new exhibitions, performances, concerts, art talks, films, creative workshops, and tours of the collections. Our collections of about 250,000 works contain a rich and varied selection of art - from the European classics of the Renaissance to the overwhelming diversity of modern and contemporary art. The SMK is especially famous for its beautiful collection of Danish Golden Age art, the country’s most comprehensive collection of Danish contemporary art – and one of the world’s best Matisse collections. The history of the museum begins with the diary of the German painter Albrecht Dürer. In 1521 this eminent artist made an entry stating that the king of Denmark, Christian II, had received “the best copies of all my prints.” With this gift the cornerstone of the National Gallery of Denmark was laid down.

30


4. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

A visit to Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen is a journey through the history of art. Dutch and European masterpieces provide a comprehensive survey of art from the early Middle Ages to the 21st century, from Bosch, Rembrandt and Van Gogh to Dalí and Dutch Design. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen is one of the oldest museums in the Netherlands. In 1849 the lawyer Boijmans left his art collection to the city of Rotterdam. With the acquisition of the Van Beuningen collection in 1958 the museum got the second part of its name. The museum houses a unique collection of paintings, sculptures and everyday objects. The collection of prints and drawings is one of the best in the world. The museum also organises a diverse programme of spectacular temporary exhibitions throughout the years. (based on official website)

5. The Frick Collection, New York

Henry Clay Frick (1849–1919), the coke and steel industrialist, philanthropist, and art collector, left his New York residence and his remarkable collection of Western paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts to the public “for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a gallery of art, [and] of encouraging and developing the study of fine arts and of advancing the general knowledge of kindred subjects.” Designed and built for Mr. Frick in 1913 and 1914 by Thomas Hastings of Carrère and Hastings, the mansion provides a grand domestic setting reminiscent of the noble houses of Europe for the masterworks from the Renaissance through the nineteenth century that it contains. Of special note are paintings by Bellini, Constable, Corot, Fragonard, Gainsborough, Goya, El Greco, Holbein, Ingres, Manet, Monet, Rembrandt, Renoir, Titian, Turner, Velázquez, Vermeer, Whistler, and other masters. Mr. Frick’s superb examples of French eighteenth-century furniture, Italian Renaissance bronzes, and Limoges enamels bring a special ambiance to the galleries, while the interior garden and the amenities created since the founder’s time in the 1930s contribute to the serenity of the visitor’s experience. The Frick Collection also is renowned for its small, focused exhibitions and for its highly regarded concert series and dynamic education program. Adjoining The Frick Collection is the Frick Art Reference Library, founded more than ninety years ago by Henry Clay Frick’s daughter, Helen Clay Frick. Housed in a landmarked building at 10 E. 71st Street, the Library is one of the world's leading institutions for research in the fields of art history and collecting. More than a quarter of its specialist book stock is not held by any other library. It includes extensive archives and a photo archive that make it an important resource for provenance research. Its catalog, finding aids, and many full-text documents and images are available online at http://arcade.nyarc.org. The Library also supports the Center for the History of Collecting, 4 which organizes symposia and awards fellowships. The Frick Art Reference Library is open to the public free of charge.

6. Royal Collection Trust Royal Collection Trust, a department of the Royal Household, is responsible for the care of the Royal Collection and manages the public opening of the official residences of The Queen. Income generated from admissions and from associated commercial activities contributes directly to The Royal Collection Trust, a registered charity. The aims of The Trust are the care and conservation of the Royal Collection, and the promotion of access and enjoyment through exhibitions, publications, loans and educational programmes. Royal Collection Trust’s work is undertaken without public funding of any kind. The Royal Collection is among the largest and most important art collections in the world, and one of the last great European royal collections to remain intact. It comprises almost all aspects of the fine and decorative arts, and is spread among some 13 royal residences and former residences across the UK, most of which are regularly open

31


to the public. The Royal Collection is held in trust by the Sovereign for her successors and the nation, and is not owned by The Queen as a private individual.

7. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Met presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world for everyone to experience and enjoy. The Museum lives in three iconic sites in New York City – The Met Fifth Avenue, The Met Breuer, and The Met Cloisters. Millions of people also take part in The Met experience online. Since it was founded in 1870, The Met has always aspired to be more than a treasury of rare and beautiful objects. Every day, art comes alive in the Museum’s galleries and through its exhibitions and events, revealing both new ideas and unexpected connections across time and across cultures.

Documents

PRESS DOSSIER - Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium · 2016-03-16 · 3 g.co/UnseenMasterpieces Preservingand sharing heritage The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium launched