Rijksmuseum
Stadhouderskade 42, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Rijksmuseum
Amsterdam Hotels - Amsterdam Maps - Amsterdam Weather
- Amsterdam Pictures
The Rijksmuseum, 'State Museum', was originally founded as the National Art Gallery in 1800 in the Hague, but was moved to Amsterdam eight years later by King Louis Napoleon who wanted the city to be a centre for science and the arts.
The Rijkmuseum collection includes paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture and decorative arts from the middle ages to the twentieth century, providing a comprehensive overview of Dutch history.
At the heart of the collection are works from the seventeenth century, the 'Golden Age' of Dutch painting. Rembrandt's masterpiece 'The Deployment of the Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch' (more commonly called 'The Night Watch') was one of the museum's original acquisitions. It holds a central place in the museum occupying its own room with an adjacent room devoted to information on the painting's history.
The work of Rembrandt is also represented by paintings spanning his entire career, from the 1620s to the 1660s. Other notable artists include Vermeer, Frans Hals, van Leyden and Jan Mostaert, one of the most important painters of the early Dutch Renaissance.
The museum also carries an interesting collection of Chinese porcelain, Japanese prints and decorative artefacts from India and Southeast Asia
Rijksmuseum
- Opening: 10:00 am to 5:00 pm daily; closed on New Year's Day
|
