THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Nina Siegal
AMSTERDAM — Two warring nations: one Catholic, one Protestant; one a monarchy, the other a republic; one profoundly religious, the other ambitiously mercantile. How is it possible, then, that 17th-century Spain and the Netherlands, divided in so many ways, managed to produce artists whose works were so similar? That is the central question posed by “Rembrandt-Velázquez,” a breathtakingly lush exhibition of 17-century Dutch and Spanish masterworks at the Rijksmuseum, running through Jan. 19. “For me, it’s a poetic dialogue between two great masters,” Taco Dibbits, director of the Rijksmuseum, said in an interview. [
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| Francisco Ribalta’s “Christ Embracing Saint Bernard” (1625-27), left, and Rembrandt’s “The Jewish Bride” (c. 1665). Credit: Olivier Middendorp/Rijksmuseum |
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| Francisco de Zurbarán’s “Agnus Dei” (1635-40), left, and Pieter Saenredam’s “Interior of the St. Odulphuskerk in Assendelft” (1649). Credit: Olivier Middendorp/Rijksmuseum |
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| Francisco de Zurbarán, “St. Serapion” (1628), left, and Jan Asselijn, “The Threatened Swan” (c. 1650). Credit: Olivier Middendorp/Rijksmuseum |
