Museum of Art Gallery 14 - Collector's Cabinet

The paintings on this wall have been installed to evoke a “collector’s cabinet.” Today we associate the word cabinet with cupboards for storage, like the piece at the center of this gallery. Yet the term originally referred to small, private rooms used for displaying works of art, books, and curiosities. In the Netherlands these spaces were densely hung with fine paintings, allowing their owners and select guests a chance to contemplate the quality and beauty of the works, as well as the wealth and discernment of the collector who had amassed the works.