Peter Paul Rubens, Crucifixion, c.1618-1620, Loan, The Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection

MANCHESTER, NH.- On view now through February 2013, the Currier Museum of Art presents five Dutch and Flemish masterworks loaned from the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo collection.

The Van Otterloo Collection recently drew large crowds as it toured the Netherlands and the U.S, opening at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA, then traveling to Houston and San Francisco and then briefly at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The works loaned to the Currier have been acquired since that international tour, and have not been exhibited previously in the U.S. The paintings mark defining moments in each artist’s career.

The Crucifixion by Peter Paul Rubens (about 1618), the first Rubens to be shown at the Currier in the museum’s history, is a powerful, moving depiction of the moment of Jesus’ death.

There are also exquisitely detailed floral still-life paintings by Jacob van Walscapelle (about 1679) and Jan van Huysum (about 1730). A comic genre painting by Jan Steen, The Cardplayers (about 1660), is full of intrigue and underhanded activity. A lively mythological composition painted with jewel-like surfaces by Joachim Wtewael (1598) is almost miniature in scale.

“The Currier is honored to be the temporary home to these superb masterpieces, and we feel very privileged the Van Otterloos have chosen Manchester to unveil their recent acquisitions,” said Susan Strickler, Director and CEO of the Currier.

A selection of Van Otterloo loans will also be featured in the Currier’s fall exhibition, Printmaking in the Age of Rembrandt, opening September 29.