The Harold Samuel Collection: a guide to the Dutch and Flemish pictures at the Mansion House

Uittreksel

The Harold Samuel Art Collection is a unique collection of 17th-century paintings from the Golden Age of Holland. Bequeathed to the City of London in 1987 by Lord Harold Samuel of Wych Cross, a wealthy property developer and entrepreneur, this remarkable collection of 84 works - the best collection of Dutch and Flemish art in Britain - enriches the splendor of the interior of the Mansion House, the residence of the Lord Mayor of London. The Merry Lute Player by Frans Hals is perhaps the best known picture in the collection, but Samuel also gathered truly outstanding examples of genre painting, indeed several of the finest works in existence by Nicolaes Maes, Jacob Ochtervelt, Adriaen van Ostade and Jan Steen. Eleven winter landscapes include such masterpieces as Hendrick Avercamp's large copper panel depicting a frozen river, and amongst the archtypical Dutch panoramas are exceptional works by masters of the genre, Philips Koninck and Jacob von Ruisdael.