Dirk de Vries "Vegetable market in Venice"

On July 14 at 12.00 the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts (Lenin St., 104) will host the grand opening of Dirk de Vries’ Vegetable Market in Venice from the collection of the State Hermitage.

The exhibition is organized within the framework of the Cooperation Agreement between the Kaluga Region and the State Hermitage, concluded in 2015. Since 2016, exhibitions by Peter von Hess, Antoine Watteau, Honore Daumier, Giulio Carlini, Pierre Auguste-Renoir and Trofim Bigot have been presented to the Kaluga audience.

The exposition of this exhibition acquaints Kaluga residents and guests of the city with the work of the Dutch artist Dirk de Vries (? Friesland – 1612 Venice). Currently, no more than ten paintings by de Vries are known all over the world. Thus, this exhibition is unique and enriches our understanding of the diversity of the Hermitage collection.

The work entered the Hermitage collection in 1914 from the collection of the outstanding Russian scientist, traveler, statesman and collector P. P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky (1827-1914). An impressive multi-figured canvas measuring 115 x 205 cm was attributed to the youngest of Aartsen’s sons, Art Pieters (1540 - 1612), who studied in his father’s workshop. However, the nature of the scene indicated that it was performed by a Dutch artist who was well acquainted with the Italian style.

Due to unclear attribution, the painting "Vegetable Market in Venice" was not included in the museum’s catalogs for a long time and was almost unknown to the public. Relatively recently, it was possible to establish the authorship of this excellent work. Extensive comparative material made it possible to determine with certainty that this composition belongs to the brush of Dirk de Vries (? Friesland - 1612 Venice), an original painter and draftsman originally from Friesland, the northern province of the Netherlands, who between 1587 and 1612 settled in Venice and became widely known in Italy under the Latinized name Theodorus Frisius (Theodore of Friesland).

At the moment, it should be stated that the Hermitage’s "Vegetable Market in Venice" is a masterful, mature work by Dirk de Vries, whose work equally belongs to both the Dutch and Italian traditions, and marks a striking artistic phenomenon at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries.

The holding of annual Hermitage exhibitions is always accompanied by an extensive educational program, including scientific and educational events, thematic excursions and interactive activities for children. Detailed information about the events can be found on the museum website http://artmuseum.kaluga.ru/ .