Greek Gods and Heroes in the Age of Rubens and Rembrand

Jointly organized by the National Gallery of Greece, Dordrechts Museum and the Netherlands Institute in Athens, the exhibition “Greek Gods and Heroes in the Age of Rubens and Rembrandt” featured extraordinary examples of 16th- and 17th-century Flemish and Dutch painting inspired by the mythology and history of ancient Greece. The importance of the exhibition lies in the fact that for the first time works by Flemish and Dutch painters inspired by Greek antiquity were jointly displayed. Paintings by Rembrandt, Ferdinand Bol and Jan Steen were exhibited alongside representative examples of the art of Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony Van Dyck, Jan Brueghel I and Jacob Jordaens, providing an opportunity for insightful observation and comparisons. Undoubtedly, emphasis was placed on art from the famous Golden Age of Dutch painting, that is, the 17th century. Many characteristic works from the 16th century were also on display, the time when themes from classical Antiquity were introduced to the repertory of artists in the Netherlands.
The exhibition comprised 74 paintings from leading international public and private collections (London, Paris, Antwerp, Budapest, Copenhagen, Madrid, Vienna, all museums in the Netherlands and most in Germany, as well as New York, Washington and Hartford) – even a private collection in Japan, in the case of Rembrandt’s Athena.

Exhibition Curators: Dr. Peter J. Schoon, Deputy Director, Dordrecht Museum
Dr. Sander Paarlberg, Researcher, Leiden University
Angela Tamvaki, Curator, National Gallery of Greece

Main sponsor: Heineken
Sponsors: ABN-AMRO Bank, Freisland Hellas, Heineken, Milner, Nationale Nederlanden, Philips, Shell, Unilever