Press Release
Haarlem, 9 October 2015
Restorers Jorinde Koenen and Jessica
Roeders at work.
Jan van Scorel – The Baptism of Christ, c. 1527, Frans Hals
Museum. The painting after the removal of layers of varnish,
overpaintings and retouches.
A Divine Discovery in a Work by Jan van Scorel
From 14 November 2015 to 13 March 2016 the Frans Hals Museum will be focusing on
the period when the painter Jan van Scorel (1495 – 1562) was working in Haarlem. Jan
van Scorel – A Divine Discovery has been prompted by the restoration of and research
into The Baptism of Christ, one of Van Scorel’s most important paintings from his
Haarlem period. A wealth of new information about the painting will be revealed in the
small exhibition, since various elements, including the face of God the Father, emerged
from under old overpaintings.
Jan van Scorel in Haarlem
Scorel fled to Haarlem in 1527 to escape political unrest in Utrecht. He remained for a short period—
only until 1530—but he set up his first workshop there and his presence was extraordinarily important
in the development of Haarlem painting. Scorel was the first Dutch painter to encounter the art of the
Renaissance when he was in Italy, and he brought the particular innovations of Italian art to Haarlem.
Pupils and assistants, among them the ambitious Maarten van Heemskerck, worked in Scorel’s
workshop. Jan van Scorel’s importance to developments in sixteenth-century Dutch art is almost
impossible to overstate.
Exhibition
Jan van Scorel’s The Baptism of Christ will be shown for the first time in centuries without layers of
yellowed varnish and discoloured retouches and overpaintings, usually applied with a lavish hand. The
exhibition examines the history of its creation and iconography, the painting technique and the
wooden support, which appears to have been enlarged later in the sixteenth century. Alongside the
restored painting will be Scorel’s major works from his Haarlem period, including Mary Magdalene
from Rijksmuseum and Madonna with the Roses from the Centraal Museum. The restoration of The
Baptism of Christ and the research into the painting are the subject of a short film.
A booklet written by Ariane van Suchtelen, interim curator of old art seconded from the Mauritshuis,
who put the exhibition together, is being published to coincide with the show. Among other things she
examines the importance of Scorel’s Haarlem years and places The Baptism of Christ in a broad
context.
I Spy With My Little Eye …
Starting on 14 November Jan van Scorel – A Divine Discovery will be part of I Spy With My Little Eye
… in which visitors are invited to take a closer look at the Frans Hals Museum’s collection. At a time
when everything has to be big, bigger or biggest in the museum world, the Frans Hals Museum, a
museum on a human scale, has chosen to do the opposite. From November the museum will be
zooming in on the detail, the little things that are usually overlooked but are just as interesting. The
museum is home to a wealth of little visual secrets that have stories to tell: images on tiles, beautifully
fashioned ornaments, tiny silver utensils and, of course, all those details in the paintings. There is
another world to discover in the Frans Hals Museum—the world of the detail, seemingly hidden from
the eye, even the invisible! The museum takes visitors on a journey of discovery, like a Gulliver on the
island of Lilliput. It is a journey for young and old on which visitors will learn to look more closely and
develop an eye for the detail, the hidden and the imaginary, and so be given the key to a world of
stories and imagination. Become a visual expert and come to I Spy With My Little Eye…! More details
to follow shortly.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------De Hallen Haarlem
From 12 September 2015 to 3 January 2016 PRIMITIVE DATA - Markus Selg Solo Exhibition.
Symposium in Collaboration with Museum M, Louvain
On 13 November a symposium entitled The Trans-Historical Museum: Objects, Narratives &
Temporalities is being staged in the Frans Hals Museum. The combination of old and modern art
provides a range of ways of looking at artworks in a new light and inviting various audience groups to
become acquainted with the new on the basis of the familiar and look at the familiar in a new way.
More information to follow.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Title
Jan van Scorel – A Divine Discovery
Date
14 November 2015 to 13 March 2016
Location
Frans Hals Museum, Groot Heiligland 62, Haarlem
Telephone
+31(0)23 511 57 75
Opening times
Tuesday – Saturday 11.00 am – 5.00 pm
Sundays and Holidays 12.00 Noon – 5.00 pm
For press information and images please contact Monique van Royen,
[email protected], T +31(0)23 511 57 83
To download images directly see also www.franshalsmuseum.nl/ press/press releases