Amsterdam Honors its Own Golden Age Sculpture Master

Quellinus has been described as the Bernini of the North. Ramon van Flymen / ANP/AFP
Quellinus has been described as the Bernini of the North. Ramon van Flymen / ANP/AFP
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Amsterdam Honors its Own Golden Age Sculpture Master

Quellinus has been described as the Bernini of the North. Ramon van Flymen / ANP/AFP
Quellinus has been described as the Bernini of the North. Ramon van Flymen / ANP/AFP

Imposing but delicate marble sculptures of Graeco-Roman-style figures grace the vaulted corridors of a huge palace. But this isn't Florence or Rome. This is Amsterdam.

As part of celebrations to mark 750 years since the founding of the Dutch capital, the city is unveiling from Wednesday an exhibition dedicated to Artus Quellinus, the 17th century "sculptor of Amsterdam."

Virtually unknown outside Flanders in present-day Belgium where he made his name, the city has Quellinus to thank for the decorations on the Royal Palace that dominates the city's iconic Dam Square.

Quellinus "lifted our sculpture to a new level" with a fresh style, Dutch art historian Bieke van der Mark told AFP.

Born in Antwerp in 1606, Quellinus sculpted with marble, as well as ivory and clay.

His style, heavily influenced by Flemish baroque painter Reubens, was a complete novelty for the Protestant Netherlands, used to a more sober style at the time.

His subjects -- mythological figures, chubby angels, and animals -- are perhaps a nod to the great masters he would have seen while an apprentice in Rome.

"Like (17th century Italian master Gian Lorenzo) Bernini, he masters the way the flesh looks, and hands," said Van der Mark.

"It's really fantastic," said the 46-year-old, pointing to a statue of the Saturn devouring his son, whom he holds in his huge veiny hands.

Organized by the Amsterdam Royal Palace and the Rijksmuseum, this is the first-ever retrospective devoted to Quellinus, displaying more than 100 of his works from national and international collections.

"We spent quite some time to select and to collect, to bring together all these very special works... to show Quellinus at his best," said curator Liesbeth van Noortwijk.

"Because I think he's an artist that deserves that."

"We dare to call him the Bernini of the North... And I think this is no exaggeration," she told AFP.

The decorations of Amsterdam's Royal Palace, built as a town hall between 1648 and 1665, remains Quellinus's statement work, with an iconic figure on the roof of Atlas bearing the world on his shoulders.

Now, nearly 400 years on, the city hopes the show will raise awareness of the hitherto unrecognized "sculptor of Amsterdam."



Dutch Art Sleuth Recovers Stolen Trove of UNESCO-listed Documents

This handout photograph obtained on July 8, 2025, courtesy of Arthur Brand shows Dutch art detective Arthur Brand posing with stolen documents from the 15th to the 19th century, including several UNESCO-listed archives from the world's first multinational corporation Dutch East India Company (VOC), in Amsterdam on June 24, 2025. (Photo by ARTHUR BRAND / AFP)
This handout photograph obtained on July 8, 2025, courtesy of Arthur Brand shows Dutch art detective Arthur Brand posing with stolen documents from the 15th to the 19th century, including several UNESCO-listed archives from the world's first multinational corporation Dutch East India Company (VOC), in Amsterdam on June 24, 2025. (Photo by ARTHUR BRAND / AFP)
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Dutch Art Sleuth Recovers Stolen Trove of UNESCO-listed Documents

This handout photograph obtained on July 8, 2025, courtesy of Arthur Brand shows Dutch art detective Arthur Brand posing with stolen documents from the 15th to the 19th century, including several UNESCO-listed archives from the world's first multinational corporation Dutch East India Company (VOC), in Amsterdam on June 24, 2025. (Photo by ARTHUR BRAND / AFP)
This handout photograph obtained on July 8, 2025, courtesy of Arthur Brand shows Dutch art detective Arthur Brand posing with stolen documents from the 15th to the 19th century, including several UNESCO-listed archives from the world's first multinational corporation Dutch East India Company (VOC), in Amsterdam on June 24, 2025. (Photo by ARTHUR BRAND / AFP)

A Dutch art sleuth has recovered a priceless trove of stolen documents from the 15th to the 19th century, including several UNESCO-listed archives from the world's first multinational corporation.

Arthur Brand, nicknamed the "Indiana Jones of the Art World" for his high-profile recovery of stolen masterpieces, said the latest discovery was among his most significant.

"In my career, I have been able to return fantastic stolen art, from Picassos to a Van Gogh... yet this find is one of the highlights of my career," Brand told AFP.

Many of the documents recount the early days of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), whose globetrotting trading and military operations contributed to the Dutch "Golden Age", when the Netherlands was a global superpower.

The 17th century VOC documents contain a "fascinating glimpse into the events of that time in places like Europe, India, Indonesia, South Africa and Latin America," said Brand.

One document from 1602 recounts the first meeting of the VOC, during which its famous logo -- considered the world's first corporate logo -- was designed.

VOC merchants criss-crossed the globe, catapulting the Netherlands to a world trading power but also exploiting and oppressing the colonies it conquered.

The company was also a leading diplomatic power and one document relates a visit in 1700 by top VOC officials to the court of the Mughal emperor in India.

"Since the Netherlands was one of the most powerful players in the world at that time in terms of military, trade, shipping, and colonies, these documents are part of world history," said Brand.

UNESCO agrees, designating the VOC archives as part of its "Memory of the World" documentary heritage collection.

"The VOC archives make up the most complete and extensive source on early modern world history anywhere," says UNESCO on its website.

The trove also featured early ships logs from one of the world's most famous admirals, Michiel de Ruyter, whose exploits are studied in naval academies even today.

De Ruyter gained fame for his daring 1667 raid to attack the English fleet in the River Medway, one of the greatest humiliations in world naval history.

The ship's logs, written in his own hand, relate the admiral's first experience of naval warfare, the 1641 Battle of St Vincent against the Spanish fleet.

No less enthralling is the "who-dunnit" of how Brand came by the documents.

Brand received an email from someone who had stumbled across a box of seemingly ancient manuscripts while clearing out the attic of an incapacitated family member.

This family member occasionally lent money to a friend, who would leave something as collateral -- in this case the box of documents.

"I received some photos and couldn't believe my eyes. This was indeed an extraordinary treasure," Brand told AFP.

Brand investigated with Dutch police and concluded the documents had been stolen in 2015 from the vast National Archives in The Hague.

The main suspect -- an employee at the archives who had indeed left the box as collateral but never picked it up -- has since died.

Brand compared the theft to a daring heist by a curator at the British Museum, who spirited away some 1,800 objects, selling some of them on eBay.

The art detective said he spent many an evening sifting through the documents, transported back in time.

"Wars at sea, negotiations at imperial courts, distant journeys to barely explored regions, and knights," he told AFP.

"I felt like I had stepped into Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Treasure Island."