Ferdinand Bol and Govert Flinck: New Research

-New Research concerning Rembrandt’s rivals: Ferdinand Bol and Govert Flinck

-Sixteen essays exploring the work of two of 17th-century Amsterdam’s most ambitious painters, Govert Flinck and Ferdinand Bol

-Accompanies the first ever exhibition on Flinck and Bol, to be held at The Rembrandt House Museum, Amsterdam from October 2017 to February 2018

This book presents sixteen essays exploring the work of two of 17th-century Amsterdam’s most ambitious painters, Govert Flinck and Ferdinand Bol. Museum curators, academic art historians, and conservation scientists from six different countries come together to investigate form, content, and context from a variety of perspectives. Eric Jan Slujter examines how changing patterns of patronage contributed to both artists’ stylistic evolution. Hilbert Lootsma traces the rise and fall of their critical fortunes from their own time until today. Ann Jensen Adams situates their work in the shifting market for portraiture. Jasper Hillegers explores the origins of Flinck’s career in the Leeuwarden studio of Lambert Jacobsz. Other authors present contextual and technical analyzes of individual paintings. Portrait identities are revealed, painterly tricks uncovered, and both artists are shown to be influential teachers and members of an intellectual community in which art and theater were closely linked. Many of these essays originated at an international conference held in preparation for the exhibition, Govert Flinck and Ferdinand Bol. Together, they shed new light on the methods and motivations of two artists who began as Rembrandt’s acolytes but soon became his rivals.

Stephanie S. Dickey is the Bader chair in Northern Baroque Art, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada.