SALEM, MASS.- Following the tremendous public and critical acclaim of Peabody Essex Museum's 2011 exhibition, Golden: Dutch and Flemish Masterworks from the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection, the museum once again exhibits works from the renowned Van Otterloo collection. Featuring 17th century paintings, Golden Light, Selections from the Van Otterloo Collection explores Dutch art and life in the 1600s through masterworks by Hendrick Avercamp, Frans Hals, Pieter Claesz, Jan Brueghel the Elder and notable others. Golden Light will be on view at PEM starting today and running through September 1, 2013.

THE VAN OTTERLOO COLLECTION
Over the last two decades, Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo have assembled one of the world's best private collections of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish art. Superb in condition and impeccable in provenance, the Van Otterloo collection boasts exemplary paintings, furniture, and decorative arts from the Golden Age - an era of unsurpassed artistic, cultural, scientific, and commercial accomplishment in the Netherlands.

The van Otterloo Collection was on view for the first time in its entirety when the exhibition opened at PEM on February 26, 2011. "We are honored to present the Van Otterloo's exquisite private collection to our visitors for the first time. Golden highlights PEM's continued commitment to presenting outstanding works of art and culture and we are pleased for the opportunity to create an important new publication on 17th-century Dutch and Flemish art. We deeply appreciate the Van Otterloo's generosity for sharing their collection and look forward to the exhibition's national tour," said back then Dan L. Monroe, PEM Executive Director and CEO.

The 68 exquisite paintings in the van Otterloo Collection - portraits, still lifes, landscapes, history paintings, maritime scenes, city profiles and genre scenes - were created in the 1600s as the Dutch Republic increased in maritime strength and dominated international trade. Elsewhere in Europe, the nobility and the Catholic Church were the principal patrons of the arts, but in the Netherlands, merchants supported artists in unprecedented numbers. Corrigan notes that "the creative revival and widespread patronage of the arts in the Netherlands was by no means limited to paintings. Master craftsmen created works in silver, wood and mother-of-pearl that were equally prized by their collectors." The exhibition also features twenty-three examples of furniture and decorative arts from the van Otterloo Collection. All of these works graced domestic spaces in the Netherlands as people began to invest enthusiastically in fine art and welcome it into their homes.