The Rijksmuseum Amsterdam is a Dutch national museum on the Museumplein in the Oud-Zuid district of Amsterdam-Zuid - it is dedicated to the arts, crafts and history.
The Rijksmuseum Amsterdam houses a large collection of paintings from the Dutch Golden Age and an extensive collection of Asian art objects and artifacts relating to Dutch history. With around 8,000 exhibits on display, it has been declared a Rijksmonument. In 2015, the Rijksmuseum was named European Museum of the Year.
The museum was founded in The Hague in 1800 to exhibit the collections of the Dutch governors. Its foundation was inspired by the French models of the era. The museum was initially known as the Nationale Kunst-Gallerij. The institution was eventually brought to Amsterdam on the orders of King Louis Bonaparte. At this time, the paintings of the city of Amsterdam also entered the collection; the most famous example is "The Night Watch" by Rembrandt van Rijn.
The collections
In addition to Dutch painting and art, the collections include Dutch history, the colonial history of the Netherlands and art in the colonial territories. A special feature is the room of naval models (Marinemodellenkamer)[8] with around 1600 objects. The museum owns around 1 million[9] objects, of which 8000 are on display.
Paintings
The collection of paintings includes works by Jacob van Ruysdael, Frans Hals, Jan Vermeer, Jan Steen, Rembrandt van Rijn and Rembrandt's pupils.
Rembrandt
The collection includes the following paintings by Rembrandt van Rijn:
The Night Watch
The Heads of the Clothworkers' Guild
The Jewish Bride
Apostle Peter Denies Christ
Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem
Saskia with a veil
Titus as a monk
Self-portrait as the apostle Paul
Tobias and Anna with the goat
Rembrandt's The Night Watch (1642) © www.rijksmuseum.nl
Jan Vermeer
The following paintings by Jan Vermeer can be found in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam:
Maid with Milk Jug
The Love Letter
Letter Reader in Blue
The Little Street
Vermeer's maid with milk jug (1658-1660) © www.rijksmuseum.nl
Frans Hals
These paintings by Frans Hals are in the collection:
Portrait of a Young Couple
The Company of the Reynier Real
The Merry Drunkard
Portrait of Lucas De Clercq
Portrait of Nicolaes Hasselaer
Portrait of a man
Hals' portrait of a young couple © www.rijksmuseum.nl
Jan Steen
The following paintings by Jan Steen are in the collection:
The Feast of St. Nicholas
The Drunken Couple
The Morning Toilet
Adolf and Catharina Croeser
Arent Oostwaard and his wife
Children teaching a cat to dance
Jan Steen's children teaching a cat to dance © www.rijksmuseum.nl
Library
Like many other museums, the Rijksmuseum has its own library for research purposes. The Rijksmuseum Research Library is the largest public research library on art history in the Netherlands. The library's web catalog currently contains around 140,000 monographs, 3,200 specialist journals and 20,000 art sales catalogs.
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