Enfilade

Johann Dietrich Findorff, after Jean-Baptiste Oudry, Clara the Rhinoceros, ca. 1752
(Schwerin: Staatliches Museum)

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Along with the exhibition highlighting treasures from the Dresden Picture Gallery acquired in the eighteenth century, the Groninger Museum is currently presenting an exhibition addressing the collection of the Dutch merchant Jan Albert Sichterman:

De Koning van Groningen: Jan Albert Sichterman (1692–1764)
Groninger Museum, Groningen, 20 September 2014 — 1 March 2015

Philip van Dijk, Portrait of Jan Albert Sichterman (Groninger Museum)

The art collection of the Groningen merchant Jan Albert Sichterman—one of the most striking figures of the eighteenth century—included Asian ceramics, beautiful porcelain, splendid portraits painted by Philip van Dijk, Cornelis Troost and others, inconceivably fine pappercutting by Koster, furniture, silver, chintz, and memories of Clara the rhinoceros. After Sichterman’s death in 1764, his art collection was auctioned off and the collection largely dispersed. Fortunately, many collection pieces remained within the family and, in the course of time, the Groninger Museum has also been able to acquire several items. With this exhibition, the Groninger Museum has seized the exceptional opportunity to gather together what has been diffused since 1764. For this occasion, the Museum’s own Sichterman collection has been supplemented by hitherto unshown objects from private collections, as well as a number of works on loan. Never before has so much Chine de Commande porcelain owned a single family been exhibited in our country.

Christiaan J.A. Jörg, Egge Knol, and Denise A. Campbell, Jan Albert Sichterman (1692–1764): Een imponerende Groninger liefhebber van kunst (Groningen: Groninger Museum, 2014), 184 pages, ISBN: 978-9071691737, €39.