A myriad of glitches during our recent aborted Romance of the Rhine river cruise resulted in an an unexpected side trip to Amsterdam. Not wanting to spend the day, yet again, on a long boring bus ride after the boat broke down, Dave and I threw up our hands in protest, got directions to the train station, and bought 2 tickets for the Fast Train to visit the most spectacular museum in the Low Countries,The Rijksmuseum. After a two and a half hour train ride and a 10-minute jaunt on the streetcar, both of us being the art museum junkies that we are, were gazing happily at the INGANG sign.
We enjoyed a quick polish sausage (with sauerkraut) in the sun before we began our splendid day visiting Frans, Johannes, Rembrandt, and Jan. The museum is going through a major renovation and many of the paintings are on loan or in storage. However, Rembrandt’s most famous painting, The Night Watch, shown here, remains in its original position of honor.
This magnificent painting will take your breath away from its mere staggering size of 143 inches tall and 172 inches wide. The use of chiaroscuro is sublime, dramatic, and mysterious just as it should be. Also known as, The Militia Company of Frans Banning Cocq., it was painted by Rembrandt in 1642 and caused quite a controversy, mostly because of the placements of the figures.
In 1975, Wilhelmus de Rijk attacked the painting with a bread knife slashing large zigzag cuts across the lower right. Then in 1990, it was sprayed with acid, but a quick acting guard sprayed water on the area, and the acid only penetrated through the varnish layer. Because of this, viewers cannot get very close and the guards are vigilant.
Later after a quick stroll through the Van Gogh Museum, we hopped the streetcar for a 15-minute ride to our hotel. Our get-away museum visit on a glorious sunny day in Holland soothed our frazzled souls.
Photo courtesy Wikipedia public domain images.