Amsterdam 2 - 4 June

 Travelled by train from Frankfurt to Amsterdam.  Problem with e ticket - had to pay twice!  Air-con failed in our carriage and we had to move 3 carriages before finding another seat.
We had booked a hotel close to a major public transport hub.  It was good, even having a coin laundry on one floor.  We could easily catch tram, bus, train anywhere.

Scene common in Amsterdam

 Wanted to visit Van Gogh art gallery but booked out for months!  So we went to Rijksmuseum and thoroughly enjoyed our time there.

 

 There was a special exhibition of Rembrandt's drawings.   He enjoyed drawing domestic scenes of women and children and left behind an album of 135 drawings.

This drawing is often regarded as a portrait of his wife, Saskia.  If so, she consciously plays a role here.  Wearing a simple cloth around her head and an apron, it seems as if she has come straight out of the kitchen.  Saskia, however, was a mayor's daughter and married to an artist full of social ambitions.  She would thus never have walked around the house dressed like a kitchen maid. 

 Four men are deep in conversation with one another.  Rembrandt recorded them quickly and deftly, possibly drawing them on the street in a sketchbook.  He could also have committed them to his prodigious visual memory.

 

In Rembrandt's time, Amsterdam was an extremely cosmopolitan trade centre.  Rembrandt was very interested in foreign types, especially in what have long been termed 'Orientals'.  For him, they probably represented biblical figures.  He was especially intrigued by their faces and oriental clothing.

The Good Samaritan 1633 Etching

Rembrandt The Ratcatcher

The Card Player

Still Life with Peacocks 1639

While Christ was being questioned by the high priest, Peter waits outside.  He is identified as one of Christ's followers and denies this 3 times.  In the right background, Christ is being led away, looking back at Peter.

Young Woman in Fantasy Costume 1633 (Saskia who died at 29 y)

his son in monk's robe

The Night Watchman

Rembrandt cake

After lunch in the cafe we explored the non-Rembrandt areas.

van Oostsanen 1526 Saul and the Witch of Endor

 Vermeyen 1530 The Marriage at Cana

Peeter Baltens 1570 A Flemish Kermis (fair) with a Performance

Hendrik de Keyser 1615 Screaming Child Stung by a Bee

Van de Velde 1622 The Castle Ferry

Vermeer 1660 The Milkmaid

Van Gogh 1887 Self Portrait

Van de Helst 1663 Militia Company District VIII

Franz Hals, Pieter Codde 1637 Militia Company District XI

The Trojan priest Laocoon and his sons are struggling in vain against the power of two sea serpents.  This group, a copy of a famous Ancient original, was cast in Rome for the wealthy Dutch merchant Nicolaas Calff.  He place the statue in the garden of his country house, Polanen, near Halfweg in Northern Holland.

Louis Bourgeois

Munttoren (Mint Tower) 1887

 On our last day we used our bus ticket to travel to the Maritime Centre and back, just to view another part of Amsterdam before our taxi came at 1pm.  We boarded the overnight ferry to Newcastle at 2pm.