A Mirror of Nature: Dutch Paintings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Edward William Carter

A Mirror of Nature is the catalogue of the most distinguished private collection of Dutch seventeenth-century painting in North America. Formed in Los Angeles by Mr. and Mrs. Edward William Carter between 1959 and 1985, the collection comprises masterpieces by many of the greatest Dutch landscape and still-life painters of the age. The paintings were first exhibited publicly together in 1981-82 in Los Angeles, Boston, and New York and are destined to become part of the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Since 1981 several important works have been added to the collection and are included in this expanded edition of the 1981 exhibition catalogue.
In the pages of this book we encounter the great names of Dutch landscape and marine painting, from a brilliant winter scene by Hendrick Avercamp to a great oak tree depicted by Jacob van Ruisdael with an energy that rivals nature's own. Scenes of the seacoast, great ships, and sailboats are represented by Jan van de Cappelle, Adam Pynacker, and various members of the van de Velde family. Jan Both transports us to the golden light of Italy, while Jan van Goyen and Salomon van Ruysdael guide us along their native rivers and estuaries. Meyndert Hobbema's picturesque woods contrast with a busy Amsterdam quayside by Jan van der Heyden or a quiet church interior by Pieter Saenredam. Even Aelbert Cuyp's Holy Family takes second place to the magnificent river and mountain landscape that shelters their flight to Egypt.
The special character of this collection is that its artists depicted the world around them. Thus the domestic world is mirrored too in exquisite flower paintings by Ambrosius Bosschaert, Dirck de Bray, and Jan van Huysum, which in turn make colorful contrasts with the pleasures of the table represented by Pieter Claesz., Willem Heda, or Clara Peeters. All the preciousness of Dutch artists' loving gaze is summed up in Adriaen Coorte's bowl of wild strawberries, topped with a sprig of blossom.