Art News

Dutch and Flemish paintings on view at the Museum of Fine Arts in Saint Petersburg

SAINT PETERSBURG, FL.- The 38 striking paintings and 14 works on paper in this exhibition are rich in the history of sixteenth and seventeenth-century northern Europe. The works encompass biblical stories, mythological subjects, stunning portraits, scenes from everyday life, seascapes and landscapes, and still lifes. The St. Petersburg Times is the media sponsor of all MFA exhibitions. The Gilberts, who developed this exceptional collection over more than 35 years, were attracted to these paintings, in part, because so many explore biblical stories. Abraham Bloemaert’s Cain and Abel (about 1588-1592) is both violent and dramatic. In contrast, Paulus Potter’s God Appearing to Abraham at Sichem (1642) has a rustic, harmonious calm and captures a moment of divine revelation, a promise to the Jewish people. These marvelous paintings reveal cultures ascending, becoming more literate and interested in the arts, trying to establi