OLD MASTERS, NEW AMSTERDAM Exhibition Review at The New York Historical 

Engaging concept and vision

Celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the USA have been carried on widely and at many levels this year, with a varying degree of success, interest among the public, taste and quality standards. 

But one exhibition among these special events, concerts and fairs certainly stands on its own, both due to its concept by the organizers and vision of its curators, and the quality of art it presents to the public. 

Old Masters, New Amsterdam exhibition at the New Historical New York (on display until August 30th, 2026 ) was elaborated with a special intellectual twist which paid off in full measure, and enriched the exhibition essentially. That twist was a simple but fundamental historical fact of the timing and circumstances of the first settlers who came to the place known as Manhattan Island 150 years before the USA was founded as a sovereign territory on July 4th, 1776,  and later on as a country with the US Constitution adopted 12 years later. 

Those first settlers and pioneering colonists were the people from the Netherlands. Supported by the mighty player of the day, the West Indian Dutch company, these people who were obviously looking for an adventure but at the same time were motivated by the powerful stimulus of developing unprecedented trade routes and establishing permanent trade posts in the New World, landed at the nearby area in 1624, and in two years, after successful negotiations with the indigenous Lenape tribe that had been original inhabitants of Manhattan , had acquired the place and settled there. The Dutch settlers named their new permanent trading point at the southern tip of Manhattan New Amsterdam. They were living at the place for 40 years, until the English military fleet had seized the island in 1664 renaming an already well-developed spot as New York. 

The current Old Masters, New Amsterdam, a truly rare in its approach and quality and exceptionally well-researched exhibition at The New York Historical addresses that initial stage of existence of what is known now as New York, the most vibrant city of the United States, a legendary place in generations, for so many for many different reasons. 

The exhibition has its two main lines: the life of the Dutch settlers, the first Europeans at the Northern part of the  American continent as it was reflected in an outstanding art of the period, the period of Rembrandt and his contemporaries, and an anthropological vision of the first settling of New Amsterdam before it has become New Work. Those two lines have been brilliantly curated by two masters in their correspondent fields: Arthur K. Wheelock, the Senior Advisor for The Leiden Collection who was responsible for a mighty presence of the brilliant art of the period at the exhibition from this rare collection, and well-known historian Russel Shorto, director of The New Amsterdam Project within The New York Historical. 

Following my ongoing work on the Rembrandt Today Project, I concentrate on the artistic line of the very impressive exhibition  in this review.  

Inter-connection of........

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