During The Golden Cabinet exhibition in the Museum Rockoxhuis in Antwerp visitors get an impression of the opulence of the 17th century town houses of the city. Top pieces from Antwerp's Royal Museum of Fine Arts (KMSKA), currently closed for restoration, and the most important works from the Museum Rockoxhuis transform this former burgomaster's patrician residence into a luxurious art cabinet.
As part of The Golden Cabinet, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp and the Museum Rockoxhuis organise a number of small-scale exhibitions. The Parrot. 't Cierlijk schoon van haare veeren (The decorative beauty of its plumage) is the third such exhibition in the series. Following the stunning restoration of the painting The Holy family with the parrot by Rubens (KMSKA), a work that has been given pride of place in The Golden Cabinet exhibition, the attention is turned to the parrot in the pictorial art of the 16th and 17th centuries. Its magnificent plumage was a feast for the eye and a source of inspiration for countless artists. Beauty, wisdom, virginal, exotic and lover are just a few of the many predicates assigned to this bird. Besides Rubens' work, interpretations of the parrot by Savery, Fijt, Jordaens, de Heem, Dürer, Schongauer and other artists will also be on display.
The Holy Family with the parrot by Peter Paul Rubens has been restored with the support of the Inbev-Baillet Latour Fund.
Practical:
Exhibition The Parrot. 't Cierlijk schoon van haare veeren
November 8 2014 through February 22 2015
Museum Rockoxhuis, Keizerstraat 12, 2000 Antwerp
T +32 (0)3 201 92 50/ F +32 (0)3 201 92 51
Museum Rockoxhuis
Online Application
(News item October 1 2014)