Photo showing a gallery with dark red walls, paintings in gold frames and a large table in the foreground with a decorative surface

Seventeenth Century Gallery

Included in general admission tickets
Suitable for all ages
Wheelchair accessible

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The Seventeenth Century Gallery, on the first floor next to the Ballroom, presents a small but exquisite collection of paintings, representing highlights from a larger collection of 17th-century art assembled by Baron Bruno Schroder (1867–1940) and his wife between 1913 and 1928.

The Gallery highlights a time period of major artistic change across Europe. Growing wealth from international trade and colonial expansion helped support artists and collectors. During this period, painters began to explore new subjects. Portraiture remained popular, but landscape and still life developed into important genres in their own right.

An undoubted highlight, Pastoral Landscape with Shepherds Playing Music by a River was painted around 1637 by the renowned master of the ideal landscape, Claude Gellée – better known as Claude Lorrain (1604/5–1682). The painting was last publicly exhibited 100 years ago, at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

Other works on display include portraits by Justus Sustermans (1597–1681) and Cornelis van der Voort (1576–1624); landscapes by Aert van der Neer (1603/4–1677) and Jan van Goyen (1596–1656); and an exquisitely decorated scagliola table attributed to Fistulator workshop, from the mid-17^th century.

“There are few – if any – works of this quality outside London. It is thrilling for the Holburne and for Bath to house a display of such international standing”
Chris Stephens, Director

‘Portrait of a Gentleman’, said to be Dirck Alewijn (1571–1637). Attributed to Cornelis van der Voort (1576–1624)
Oil on oak panel, dated 1617
Justus Suttermans (1597–1681), ‘Portrait of a Lady wearing a black and yellow dress’, oil on canvas, early 1630s
Claude Lorrain, Pastoral Landscape with Shepherds Playing Music by a River , 1637