Thursday, November 16, 2017

This exciting opportunity for art lovers is only available for a limited number of people, both museum members and non-members are welcome.  Participants will travel by tour bus to the National Gallery of Art, featuring Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting: Inspiration and Rivalry.

The group will be able to enjoy the museum at their leisure from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with meals on their own in one of the museum’s cafés or on the Mall.

This landmark exhibition examines the artistic exchanges among Johannes Vermeer and his contemporaries from 1650 to 1675, when they reached the height of their technical ability and mastery of depictions of domestic life. The exhibition brings together some 65 works by Vermeer and his fellow painters of the Dutch Golden Age, including Gerard ter Borch, Gerrit Dou, Pieter de Hooch, Gabriel Metsu, Frans van Mieris, Caspar Netscher, and Jan Steen.

Juxtaposing paintings related by theme, composition, and technique, the exhibition explores how these artists inspired, rivaled, surpassed, and pushed each other to greater artistic achievement. The paintings also reflect how these masters responded to the changing artistic climate of the Dutch Republic in the third quarter of the 17th century, particularly in Amsterdam, Delft, Leiden, and The Hague. The exhibition features 10 paintings by Vermeer (many of which have not been seen in the United States since the Gallery’s legendary 1995–1996 exhibition Johannes Vermeer), including The Lacemaker (c. 1669–1670, Musée du Louvre, Paris) and The Love Letter (c. 1669–1670, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). A fully illustrated catalog features essays by the curators and essays and entries by a team of international scholars.

This exhibition is curated by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., curator of northern baroque paintings, National Gallery of Art, Washington; Dr. Adriaan Waiboer, head of collections and research, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin; and Blaise Ducos, curator of Dutch and Flemish paintings, Musée du Louvre, Paris.

Other exhibits currently on view at the National Gallery of Art include Edward Munch: Color in Context; Bosch to Bloemaert: Early Netherlandish Drawings from the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; and Fragonard: The Fantasy Figures.  Interested members of the group may choose to explore additional museums on the Mall or other nearby locations.

The tour will depart from the Washington County Museum of Fine

Arts promptly at 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, November 16, 2017. 

Amy Hunt, who has led highly successful bus tours for the Museum of Fine Arts for several years, earned her B. A. degree in Art History, served the museum in the past as educator and curator, and lives in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania with her family where she is currently Inn Manager of the Brickhouse Inn Bed and Breakfast on Baltimore Street.

The tour is expected to return by 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $65 for Museum Members and Valley Arts Association Members/$70 for Non Members.  For more information about the trip, please contact Donna Rastelli at 301-739-5727.  Tickets are non-refundable and must be paid for in-full upon registration.

For more information on the Museum, please phone (301) 739-5727 or visit www.wcmfa.org.  Museum hours are Tuesday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and Sunday from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.