Mismatch of two masters

I hope that I am second to none in my fondness for Dutch art galleries — normally, at least. A candlelight evening in the Franz Hals museum, over 40 years ago, memorably transported me straight to 17th-century Holland — or so I imagined. The unmissable Vermeer exhibition in The Hague in 1996 reinforced this magical experience. Just over ten years ago, reviewing a Hockney exhibition in Rotterdam, I discovered that the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen had organised a race for ‘teckels’ (the Dutch for dachshunds) in honour of the artist’s famous pets. Simultaneously, vodka, samovars, blinis, borscht and waitresses in colourful Russian costumes were laid on in the museum’s restaurant to enhance an exhibition of the Tsar’s treasures.

In view of such imaginative presentations it was no surprise to discover that the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is keeping a high profile despite being largely closed for a massive internal makeover. To mark the 400th anniversary of Rembrandt’s birth it has concocted a daring notion: to use the nearby Van Gogh Museum as a venue in which to arrange the world’s first major gallery confrontation between Rembrandt and Caravaggio.