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."



Ancient DNA Shows Genetic Link Between Egypt and Mesopotamia

This photo provided by researchers shows rock-cut tombs in Nuwayrat, Egypt where a pottery vessel in which the remains of a man, radiocarbon dated to around 2855–2570 cal BCE, was discovered. (John Garstang, Mahmoud Abd El Gelel/Garstang Museum of Archaeology/University of Liverpool via AP)
This photo provided by researchers shows rock-cut tombs in Nuwayrat, Egypt where a pottery vessel in which the remains of a man, radiocarbon dated to around 2855–2570 cal BCE, was discovered. (John Garstang, Mahmoud Abd El Gelel/Garstang Museum of Archaeology/University of Liverpool via AP)
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Ancient DNA Shows Genetic Link Between Egypt and Mesopotamia

This photo provided by researchers shows rock-cut tombs in Nuwayrat, Egypt where a pottery vessel in which the remains of a man, radiocarbon dated to around 2855–2570 cal BCE, was discovered. (John Garstang, Mahmoud Abd El Gelel/Garstang Museum of Archaeology/University of Liverpool via AP)
This photo provided by researchers shows rock-cut tombs in Nuwayrat, Egypt where a pottery vessel in which the remains of a man, radiocarbon dated to around 2855–2570 cal BCE, was discovered. (John Garstang, Mahmoud Abd El Gelel/Garstang Museum of Archaeology/University of Liverpool via AP)

Ancient DNA has revealed a genetic link between the cultures of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, according to research published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

Researchers sequenced whole genomes from the teeth of a remarkably well-preserved skeleton found in a sealed funeral pot in an Egyptian tomb site dating to between 4,495 and 4,880 years ago.

Four-fifths of the genome showed links to North Africa and the region around Egypt. But a fifth of the genome showed links to the area in the Middle East between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, known as the Fertile Crescent, where Mesopotamian civilization flourished.

"The finding is highly significant" because it "is the first direct evidence of what has been hinted at" in prior work," said Daniel Antoine, curator of Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum.

Earlier archeological evidence has shown trade links between Egypt and Mesopotamia, as well as similarities in pottery-making techniques and pictorial writing systems. While resemblances in dental structures suggested possible ancestral links, the new study clarifies the genetic ties.

The Nile River is "likely to have acted as an ancient superhighway, facilitating the movement of not only cultures and ideas, but people," said Antoine, who was not involved in the study.

The skeleton was found in an Egyptian tomb complex at the archaeological site of Nuwayrat, inside a chamber carved out from a rocky hillside. An analysis of wear and tear on the skeleton - and the presence of arthritis in specific joints - indicates the man was likely in his 60s and may have worked as a potter, said co-author and bioarchaeologist Joel Irish of Liverpool John Moores University.

The man lived just before or near the start of ancient Egypt's Old Kingdom, when Upper and Lower Egypt were unified as one state, leading to a period of relative political stability and cultural innovation, including the construction of the Giza pyramids.

"This is the time that centralized power allowed the formation of ancient Egypt as we know it," said co-author Linus Girdland-Flink, a paleogeneticist at the University of Aberdeen.

At approximately the same time, Sumerian city-states took root in Mesopotamia and cuneiform emerged as a writing system.

Researchers said analysis of other ancient DNA samples is needed to obtain a clearer picture of the extent and timing of movements between the two cultural centers.