26/03/2021
The Rijksmuseum building was designed by the architect Pierre Cuypers and was
opened in 1885.
The famous Great Hall area is intricately worked according to an elaborate allegorical scheme - from the material world, through the social world to the intellectual world.
Stain-glass windows in the Rijksmuseum depict:
•Painting
•Architecture
•Philosophy and Theology
•Poetry and Music
•Sculpture
The window on the left depicting the art of painting. It shows artists Willem Van Heerle, Lucas Van Leyden, Apelles and Rembrandt. And the other arts shown above them are the art of illuminating manuscripts, the art of producing stained glass, the art of fresco painting and painting at an easel.
Middle window dedicated to architecture, as architect Pierre Cuypers was considering it the most important of all arts. Four female figures in the lowest tier of the window represent the main architecture styles: classical, early Christian, Gothic and Renaissance. The qualities of each kind are suggested in the figures and their garb, as well as by the models of the buildings they hold. The first figure has a model of a Greek temple, while the other three Dutch buildings.
On the left side of the middle section of the hall is "Philosophy and Theology". Shown here are the familiar figures of Plato and Thomas à Kempis. The upper two lights of the same window, depicting scenes of teaching and study.
On the right side of the middle section is "Poetry and Music". These lights show Joost van den Vondel, poet and playwright, and Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, composer and musician. Both men are prominent cultural icons of the Dutch Golden Age and associated with Amsterdam.
The upper belt figures in the highest tier are representatives of the society of the time. The Architecture window shows a king, a warrior, a priest and a doctor; the Painting window has a fisherman, a farmer, a mechanic and a merchant; and the Sculpture window shows a builder, a weaver, a potter and a goldsmith.
Above these, in semi-circles, are four of the twelve representations of the
months of the year, which make a sequence across all three of the tall windows.
Continue reading below