Members of the Trinity Retirement Association are invited to join a guided visit to the Exhibition:
‘TURNING HEADS’
National Gallery of Ireland
Beit Wing (Rooms 6-10) |
Date of Visit: 22 May 2024
This exhibition features works by Dutch and Flemish artists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries who were exponents of the tronie – an intriguing painting of a head. It is a genre in art that depicts the head alone. Unlike a portrait, the identity or status of the sitter in a tronie is unimportant. Instead, lighting, expression, and more profound human qualities become the focus.
This exhibition displays many extraordinary works that record people from different ages, genders, and backgrounds. They were living as long as 500 years ago, and yet in this exhibition it is as if they come to life before our very eyes.
Paintings include Study of an Old Woman by Rubens, The Laughing Man, 1629-1630, by Rembrandt and The Man with the Golden Helmet, c. 1650 from the circle of Rembrandt. Vermeer’s most exquisitely detailed tronie, Girl with the Red Hat, c.1665-1667, is an exhibition highlight
The “Costume” section of the exhibition explores a fertile period in Leiden in the 1630s when Rembrandt and Lievens were painting tronies dressed up in different costumes. There is an interesting remark from Rembrandt’s biographer Arnold Houbraken, who said that he “could also spend a day or two setting up a turban to his satisfaction”. It suggests that preparing for a picture was as important as painting one. It makes us imagine Rembrandt in his studio, delving into his dressing up box to style his model until the composition pleased him. There is a beautiful painting in the exhibition by Rembrandt and his Studio from the Derby Collection depicting a bearded man in a headpiece secured in place with a wound scarf. Such a work brings this anecdote to life.
This exhibition is a collaboration between the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp and the National Gallery of Ireland.
Curators: Dr Lizzie Marx, Curator of Dutch and Flemish Art and Dr Brendan Rooney, Head Curator.
Ticket price is €6.50
There are two tours with a Max. Number of 15 in each group
Members only.
Meeting point : 10.30 in the NGI Café (Leinster St Entrance.)