Dutch Master Joachim Wtewael (1566–1638) Subject of Major Monographic Exhibition at the MFAH Beginning in November

Thirty-five paintings and a selection of drawings shed light on Wtewael’s artistic excellence

HOUSTON—August 17, 2015—In November, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, opens Pleasure and Piety: The Art of Joachim Wtewael (1566–1638), the first-ever monographic exhibition devoted to the late-Renaissance Utrecht artist. The exhibition includes 35 of Joaquim Wtewael’s finest paintings on canvas, copper, and panel, along with a selection of drawings. Ranging from portraits and moralizing biblical scenes to florid mythological compositions, these works underscore Wtewael’s reputation as a remarkable storyteller and a great master of the Dutch Golden Age. Pleasure and Piety is on view in Houston from November 1, 2015, to January 31, 2016, following presentations at the Centraal Museum Utrecht, the Netherlands; and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

“Wtewael’s jewel-like, intricate, and vividly colored paintings have long been a favorite of museum curators,” said Gary Tinterow, director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. “This exhibition allows us to introduce his fascinating, almost hallucinatory vision to a wide audience.”

“Pleasure and Piety presents a selection of the artist’s finest works, selected from just over 100 known paintings and drawings held in private and public collections throughout the United States and Europe,” said James Clifton, the Museum’s curator of Renaissance and Baroque painting and director of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation. “These examples prove that Wtewael was an expert draftsman and a brilliant colorist who could work in large and small scale with equal ease. His paintings on copper, so full of minute details, are breathtakingly exquisite.”

About the Artist
Born and raised in Utrecht, one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands, Wtewael (pronounced OO-te-vall) spent four years in Italy and France early in his career. During those study years he embraced international Mannerism, a popular painting style characterized by extreme refinement, artifice, and elegant distortion. He remained one of the leading proponents of Mannerism throughout his career, even when most other early 17th-century Dutch artists shifted to a more naturalistic mode of painting.

Wtewael was adept at painting a wide range of subjects, and “pleasure” and “piety” are recurring motifs in many of his works. The exhibition includes compelling portraits of his family members and close associates, intimate and carefully rendered works that demonstrate an exceptional ability to capture the likeness and character of a sitter. His oeuvre also features a wealth of mythological and religious scenes. Some, like The Annunciation to the Shepherds (1606), in the Blaffer Foundation collection, illustrate biblical passages on monumental canvases. Others, such as a witty depiction of Mars and Venus Surprised by Vulcan (1601), were rendered on small coppers and kept private, brought out only for those who would appreciate the erotic subject. Wtewael also made large narrative paintings that focus on a single figure, including the sensual Perseus and Andromeda (1611) and the evocative The Kitchen Maid (c. 1620–25).

The exhibition reveals Wtewael’s brilliant combination of two modes of painting within Dutch theory and practice: working from the imagination and from nature. Many of his works are marked by unnatural colors, dense and sophisticated compositions, and highly mannered figures and poses, although always with touches of carefully observed details.

Aside from his artistic endeavors, Wtewael was a successful businessman, an ardent Calvinist, and an active local politician. Although his paintings were highly esteemed and sought out, Wtewael was not financially dependent on their sale; many of his works remained in his possession and were inherited by family members.

Exhibition Schedule
After its debut presentation at the Centraal Museum Utrecht, from February 21 to May 25, 2015, Pleasure and Piety traveled to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, from June 28 to October 4, 2015. The exhibition is on view in Houston from November 1, 2015, to January 31, 2016.

Catalogue
The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, which includes essays by James Clifton, Liesbeth Helmus, and Arthur Wheelock, with contributions by Stijn Alsteens and Anne W. Lowenthal. It features 40 of Wtewael’s finest paintings, from small jewel-like pictures on copper to large-scale Mannerist showpieces.

Organization and Funding
This exhibition is organized by the Centraal Museum Utrecht; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation. An indemnity has been granted by the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Generous funding is provided by:

About the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Established in 1900, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is among the 10 largest art museums in the United States, with an encyclopedic collection of more than 65,000 works dating from antiquity to the present. The main campus comprises the Audrey Jones Beck Building, designed by Rafael Moneo and opened in 2000; the Caroline Wiess Law Building, originally designed by William Ward Watkin, with extensions by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe completed in 1958 and 1974; and the Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden, designed by Isamu Noguchi and opened in 1986. Additional spaces include a repertory cinema, two libraries, public archives, and facilities for conservation and storage. Nearby, two house museums—Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens, and Rienzi—present American and European decorative arts. The MFAH is also home to the Glassell School of Art and its acclaimed Core Residency Program and Junior and Studio Schools; and the International Center for the Arts of the Americas (ICAA), a leading research institute for 20th-century Latin American and Latino art.

Media Contact
Laine Lieberman, publicist
llieberman@mfah.org / 713.639.7516