In A Diary of Things Museum Boijmans van Beuningen discovers the lives of three paintings before they became part of the museums collection.
All three paintings were created around 1700 by Rotterdam artists. They know a great deal about Diana and Callisto by Adriaen van der Werff, which was made as a gift for the artist’s wife and has a well-documented history. By contrast, they know relatively little about the related canvases Wild Boar Hunt and Bear Hunt by Abraham Hondius. The first owner is unknown, and for several periods thereafter, their whereabouts remain unclear. The contrast between these stories demonstrates what they can learn from provenance research and what – for now at least – still remains hidden.
With these principal works as a starting point, the museum takes seven thematic excursions, looking at other works from the collection that, like these paintings, have a complex history. They have been purchased, sold, stolen, gifted, sawn or de-accessioned. These themes set the individual stories within a broader context and reveal how different the fates of works of art can be.
