Love and Marriage: Death and Sin

Going Dutch: 17th Century Paintings from The Collection

Friday 26th May - Sunday 10th September

Opening times: Tuesday-Sunday 10am to 4pm. FREE

 

Curator Jane Simpkiss at the opening of the exhibition.

 

Love and Marriage, Death and Sin

These 2 themes have fascinated artists for hundreds of years, and the current Going Dutch exhibition at Leamington Spa Art Gallery and Museum offers a chance to understand how Dutch artsts of the 17th century reflect the world of the Dutch people and how they viewed the world around them.

Sometimes artists choose to paint an object because it's eye catching or they like to show off about how well they can paint, but often they are symbols which we don't understand today. Objects have meanings and the exhibition trail picks certain characters and objects in the paintings and suggests possible meanings for them - you can pick up your free trail leaflet at the Gallery.

For example, musical instruments were used to represent harmony, and the lute in "Landscape with River Walk" has been used to indicate that two people are in a romantic relationship. Or, in other paintings, skulls were used to remind people of war, hunger and disease and were there to encourage people to live a good life to make sure they got into heaven if they died suddenly. Wilting flowers remind us that beauty does not last.

Only 3 of the paintings in the exhibition have been loaned to the Gallery, and all the remainder come from The Collection.