Ode to Antwerp

Maerten de Vos, Allegories of the Seven Liberal Arts, ca. 1560-90, The Phoebus Foundation, Antwerp.

In the seventeenth century Antwerp was the leading mercantile metropolis of Western Europe. The beauty and quality of its art was unparalleled, and its artistic influence extended far beyond the frontiers of the Spanish Netherlands. New genres emerged, and for the first time there was an open market for art. However, in 1585, after a siege lasting for months, Antwerp’s surrender to the Spanish prompted a mass exodus of mainly Protestant artists and merchants to the North, now renamed the Republic of the United Netherlands. Amsterdam became the new Antwerp. Art and the economy flourished there like never before.

Ode to Antwerp brings together 80 key works illustrating the vast influence that its new émigré citizens had on the art and art market of the Dutch Republic. The exhibition not only be traces the tumultuous history of one of the most highly prized artistic movements in the world, but also provides a fascinating insight into the continuing exchange of artistic ideas between the Southern and Northern Netherlands. Many of the works have never been on display.