IASP Pain in Art tour
Made for the IASP congress 2024 . Objects refer to trauma and pain Physical, mental individual or colllective pain and suffering.
The Sick Woman
Jan Havicksz. Steen
On display in Gallery of Honour
Isabella van Bourbon & Pleurants
Borman workshop
On display in room 0.4
See it now in the museum
25 works of art from this collection are currently on display in the Rijksmuseum. View and follow the route using the free Rijksmuseum app.
View this route
Titus in Monk's Habit
Rembrandt van Rijn
Rembrandt and Saskia son Titus born in 1641 as their 4th child. the first 3 did lived less than a year . Titus died at the age of 27 in 1668 of the plague. His mother. Saskia died in 1642 of tuberculoses when he was 9 months old. Rembrandt dececeased one year after his son at he age of 63 years.
On display in Gallery of Honour
The Lamentation of Christ
Colijn de Coter
Here the artist ‘zoomed in’ on the faces of the dead Christ and his grieving disciples. The painting is thus both intimate and confrontational. This made it easier for believers to identify with Christ’s suffering and the Virgin’s sorrow. The man on the right holding the nails from the cross is Nicodemus; it is probably also a portrait of the person who commissioned the painting.
On display in room 0.1
The Virgin as Mater Dolorosa (Our…
Pietro Torrigiani
This poignant bust of the Virgin, lamenting the death of her son, Jesus, was probably made by Pietro Torrigiani, an Italian living in Bruges, where he was in the service of Archduchess Margaret of Austria. For Margaret, herself a grieving widow, the theme of Mary’s mourning had great resonance. The figure’s lifelike appearance made it easier to identify with the Virgin’s sorrow.
On display in room 0.1
The Sick Child
Gabriël Metsu
In 1663, the plague ravaged Amsterdam, claiming one in ten lives. Around this time, Metsu painted this picture of a mother comforting her sick child. Their posture evokes a pieta: the Virgin Mary with the body of Jesus on her lap. The painting on the wall, depicting Christ on the cross, serves as a poignant reminder of that suffering.
On display in room 2.25
Portrait of a Wounded KNIL soldier
Isaac Israels
After joining the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) in the former slave fortress of Elmina, Ghana, this man was called Kees Pop. His own name is unknown, but his parents were known as Kwamena and Ekoerva. ‘Pop’ served twelve years and fought in the Aceh War in Indonesia. Israëls painted him – with medals – while he was on sick leave in the Netherlands shortly before he returned to Africa.
On display in room 1.17
The Corpses of the De Witt Brothers
Jan de Baen
The ultimate humiliation: the nude, flayed corpses of Johan and Cornelis de Witt on public display in the Groene Zoodje, the execution ground on the Vijverberg in the middle of The Hague. On 20 August 1672 they were assassinated by their political opponents. Johan had been the most powerful man in the Republic for close to twenty years, steadfastly supported by his brother Cornelis. But they were held responsible for everything that went wrong in the year 1672, known as the ‘Year of Disaster’.
On display in room 2.18
Kappa (Kettle) Used on a Sugar…
unknown
One of the most important colonial exports was sugar. Its production relied heavily on the labour and craftsmanship of enslaved people on the plantations. They boiled lika or sugar cane juice, in kappas. During the harvest, they were forced to toil day and night so that the cane did not sour. Exhaustion only made the work more dangerous
On display in room 1.17
Diorama of a Du, a Dance…
Gerrit Schouten
In progress in the dance tent is a du, a type of role-play with music and dance that was held on the plantations. Both the performers and the spectators were people held in slavery. The lead role was reserved for the afrankeri, the narrator (the woman on the far left). The man in the red suit on the right portrays the colonial authority. During the annual du, enslaved people could give vent to their criticism of this authority or organize resistance in their own language, Sranan Tongo.
On display in room 1.17
The Egyptian Widow
Lourens Alma Tadema
The Frisian artist Alma-Tadema was a great success in England, where he was even knighted. His representations of ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman scenes made him one of the most popular 19th-century painters. In this picture, full of archaeological details, a woman is mourning beside the inner mummy case containing the body of her husband. His sarcophagus stands at left, while priests and singers lament the departed.
On display in room 1.15
Calvary
Pseudo Jan Wellens de Cock
Through paintings such as this, believers could follow the episodes of Christ’s Passion and identify with his pain and suffering. In the background, he collapses under the weight of the cross. Next he is stripped (lower right) and mocked (left); then soldiers cast lots for his clothes (bottom left). In an opening at upper centre, Jesus hangs on the cross.
On display in room 0.1
The Saint Elizabeth’s Day Flood
Master of the St Elizabeth Panels
On the night of 19 November 1421 – the feast day of Saint Elizabeth – much of Holland was flooded. The Dordrecht region was badly hit: 23 villages were submerged and 2,000 people died. The survivors later had an altarpiece made. The outer panels depict the disaster, with the breach of the dike on the right and the undamaged town of Dordrecht on the left.
On display in room 0.4
The Saint Elizabeth’s Day Flood
Master of the St Elizabeth Panels
On the night of 19 November 1421 – the feast day of Saint Elizabeth – much of Holland was flooded. The Dordrecht region was badly hit: 23 villages were submerged and 2,000 people died. The survivors later had an altarpiece made. The outer panels depict the disaster, with the breach of the dike on the right and the undamaged town of Dordrecht on the left.
On display in room 0.4
Reliquary in the form of a triptych
anonymous
This miniature altar is one of the most beautiful examples of French goldsmiths’ work from the period around 1400. It doubtless belonged to someone associated with the Paris court. Seeing Christ’s tormented body, the owner could meditate on his sufferings at any time.
On display in room 0.2
The Martyrdom of Saint Lucy
Master of the Figdor Deposition
After breaking off her engagement to a Roman consul to become a Christian, Lucy endured many tortures, yet she remained steadfast. She was eventually executed by the sword, as seen here. This panel was part of an altar dedicated to the saint.
On display in room 0.1
Christ Carrying the Cross
Quinten Massijs (I)
Here Massijs, a leading artist in early 16th-century Antwerp, paints an intense picture of Jesus’s suffering. Jesus appears close to the foreground, connecting almost tangibly with the viewer: bloodied and bowed under the weight of the cross. This penetrating depiction helped worshippers empathise with Jesus’s pain.
On display in room 0.1
Self-portrait
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent moved to Paris in 1886, after hearing from his brother Theo about the new, colourful style of French painting. Wasting no time, he tried it out in several self-portraits. He did this mostly to avoid having to pay for a model. Using rhythmic brushstrokes in striking colours, he portrayed himself here as a fashionably dressed Parisian.
Saint Vitus
anonymous
Vitus was a 4th-century Sicilian boy who endured barbaric forms of torture after his conversion to Christianity. The cruellest of these was to be boiled, aged twelve, in a cauldron of oil, resin and pitch. Miraculously, he survived, thanks to his unwavering faith. Depicting Vitus in a cauldron was very popular during the Middle Ages, especially in southern Germany
On display in room 0.2
The Seven Works of Mercy
Master of Alkmaar
The last panel of this work shows a prison where somebody gets whipped . The good deed shown here is to visit the imprisoned peopple so they will not be forgotten. A Dutch city is the backdrop to this narrative that shows how a good Christian should help those in need. Christ stands among the spectators in almost every panel. The scenes give an impression of urban society around 1500. The work was badly damaged during the Iconoclasm of 1566, when Roman Catholic churches were vandalized by Protestants
Crying Boy Stung by a Bee
Hendrick de Keyser (I)
This boy head shows the immediate pain that is expressed after he is stung in his left temple by a bee . Made of boxwood and walnut probably by Hendrick de Keyser.
On display in room 2.5
The Sudarium of Saint Veronica
anonymous
When Christ carried his cross to Calvary, he wiped the sweat from his face with a veil given to him by Veronica. The image of his features became imprinted on the cloth. This miraculous vera icon or ‘true image’ developed into the ‘standard portrait’ of Christ. It was a favourite subject of devotional art in the 15th century.
On display in room 0.2
Memorial Portrait of Moses ter…
Gerard ter Borch (II)
Moses died in 1667 during the storming of Fort Languard near Felixstowe in England. Not long thereafter Gerard and Gesina painted this picture in memory of their youngest brother. Gerard painted Moses’ portrait, Gesina the background and the objects. These allude to Moses’ heroic death and the transience of life, such as time (the pocket watch), death (the skull), eternity (ivy on the rocks) and loyalty (the dogs).
On display in room 2.25
Prometheus Being Chained by Vulcan
Dirck van Baburen
Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to mankind. As punishment, Vulcan chained him to a rock, where an eagle pecked out his liver causing him excruciating pain. Here we see Prometheus being chained, his face contorted with fear, while Mercury laughs at him. Van Baburen borrowed the dramatic illumination and the figure’s sunburned hands and faces from his great model Caravaggio.
On display in room 2.1
The Massacre of the Innocents
Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem
When Herod, the King of Judea, learned that a child destined to become ‘King of the Jews’ would be born in Bethlehem, he ordered the slaughter of all boys under the age of two. The painter portrayed the massacre as a gruesome nightmare. Horror follows upon horror: at lower left a soldier slits a child’s throat, while above them a woman gouges out a soldier’s eyes.
On display in room 2.1
St Sebastian
Pietro Tacca
All traces of the arrows that, according to legend, pierced the martyr Sebastian are missing here. The drama of this scultpre is concentrated entirely in the pose of the sensual, idealized nude body. The tormented Sebastian has lost consciousness and hangs limply against the trunk of the tree to which he is bound by one wrist.
On display in room 2.3
Two ‘walking sticks’ of Van…
anonymous
The elderly statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt was supposed to have used one of these walking sticks to support himself as he climbed the scaffold on May 13 1619 to be beheaded. He had been condemned to death after a political trial. In the previous twenty years, he had been one of the driving forces in the young Dutch Republic. The sticks were preserved as relics. In 1657 Vondel wrote a moving poem about one of them.
On display in room 2.5
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