“An Estuary with Row and Sail Boats” by 17th century Dutch painter Jan van Goyen was purchased by the Kresege Art Museum.
A seascape painting featuring the remnants of a flooded town is the newest addition to MSU’s Kresge Art Museum.
Susan J. Bandes, director of the the museum, said the painting — “An Estuary with Row and Sail Boats,” by 17th century Dutch painter Jan van Goyen — is an important addition to the museum’s collection not only as an individual piece but as an addition to the collection of other 17th century Dutch paintings of different types.
“It contrasts quite beautifully with the other landscape painting that we have,” Bandes said.
The painting was first considered when Bandes saw it was available at TEFAF Maastricht, an international art fair in the Netherlands. April Kingsley, curator of the Kresge Art Museum, said van Goyen is a significant name in the world of art and that it helps develop the museum’s collection.
“It’s kind of made us much more of an important kind of place to go to see more things than just American art,” Kingsley said.
Bandes said the painting was purchased with funds made available from the Emma Grace Holmes Endowment, a $1 million endowment established in the late 1990s specifically for the purchase of older works of art. Bandes declined to disclose the price of the painting but said the money used to purchase it came from a percentage of the interest earned from the endowment.
Bandes said when looking for new pieces for the museum’s collection, it is important to consider how the individual pieces will complement one another.
“It’s … sort of (a) jigsaw puzzle of trying to figure out where we can expand a collection, make it coherent,” Bandes said.
Bandes said although economic conditions have not impacted the market for older paintings as much as for contemporary art, the van Goyen was still a good deal.
“We just happened to have some of the funding available in the endowment fund, and we’re lucky that prices are reasonable right now,” Bandes said.
James Newton, lawyer for MSU Student Legal Services and member of the museum’s advisory board and acquisition committee, said older art is important because it offers a window into the past and allows you to better understand the development of art over time.
“It’s a way to enrich the East Lansing community, to expose them to things (that) most of the time you would never see unless you went to Holland,” he said. “To be able to kind of face a painting within inches and examine each brush stroke of the piece of work that was made 350 years ago — you know, to me, that’s awesome.”
The painting will be on display through July 31. The museum will then close for the summer and will reopen on Sept. 8.
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