Dr. Arthur Wheelock, Curator of Northern Baroque Painting at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., will explore “Beauty of Abundance: Still Life Painting in the Dutch Golden Age.” Also Professor of Art History at the University of Maryland, he has lectured widely on Dutch and Flemish art and has written many articles and a number of books and catalogues, including Jan Vermeer and Vermeer and the Art of Painting.

Dr. Wheelock has curated a number of major exhibitions at the National Gallery: Anthony van Dyck (1990), Johannes Vermeer (1995), Jan Steen: Painter and Storyteller (1996), Aelbert Cuyp (2001), Gerard ter Borch (2004), Rembrandt’s Late Religious Portraits (2005), Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered (2008), Pride of Place: Dutch Cityscapes of the Golden Age (2009), and Pleasure and Piety: The Art of Joachim Wtewael (1566-1638) (2015).

His many honors attest to his distinguished contributions to his field. In 1982, at the time of the Dutch-American Bicentennial, he was named Knight Officer in the Order of the Orange-Nassau by the Dutch government. He has also been awarded the title, Commander in the Order of Leopold I, by the government of Belgium. In 1993, he received the College Art Association/National Institute for Conservation Award for Distinction in Scholarship and Conservation.

Dr. Wheelock was awarded the Minda de Gunzburg Prize for the best exhibition catalogue of 1995 (Johannes Vermeer), the Johannes Vermeer Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Dutch Art, the Bicentennial Medal and the Kellogg Award from Williams College, and the Dutch-American Achievement Award from The Netherlands American Amity Trust. In 2008, the University of Maryland created a doctoral fellowship in his name. His online catalogue of the Dutch collection at the National Gallery received the 2014 George Wittenborn Memorial Book Award for being the best art publication in the United States. Dr. Wheelock attended Phillips Exeter Academy, Williams College, and Harvard University, where he received his Ph.D. in 1973.

Collectors Circle Lecture Series

Free with MFA admission, open to the public
Sponsored by Northern Trust

This outstanding series features some of the world’s foremost art historians, curators, artists, and collectors. The public is invited to these free lectures. An always elegant reception for Collectors Circle members, also sponsored by Northern Trust, is held one hour before the lecture. Seymour Gordon, Honorary Trustee and past President of the MFA Board, is President of the Collectors Circle.