REMBRANDT’S AMSTERDAM TODAY

The rooflines are what you’ll remember: rows of houses shoulder to shoulder, each with a distinct gable setting it apart from its neighbor. Those and the watery halos of the 165 canals the city is known for, with their little bridges studded with light after dark, are what will always speak of Amsterdam.

It was through these streets that Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn walked during his life in the seventeenth century, and the year 2006 will mark the 400th anniversary of his birth. It should be a good year to visit his city and nearby Leiden, where he was born. Each month will be filled with festivals and events that celebrate the artist, his life and his art.

Rembrandt’s work was celebrated for its chiaroscuro, his extraordinary contrasts of brightness and dark, and ironically, his life was also a mixture of light and shadow: Along with intermittent success and prosperity, he endured the death of four of his five children, bankruptcy and the loss of his two wives. He did however, manage to buy a substantial two-story house–a third story was added later–in which he lived for twenty years and which has been immaculately restored. His etchings are displayed on its walls and in 2006, some of the paintings created under this roof will be back for the first time in many years. During the time of his bankruptcy, every item he owned was sold, so not one piece in the house on view actually belonged to him. However, from the bills of sale made at the time, the recreation of the interior was possible with furnishings that are authentically seventeenth century and duplicate the originals. There is a replica of his box bed, his kitchen utensils, the table at which he took his meals. To stand in his studio, with its spears, skins, tortoise shells and plaster busts, in which he painted his masterpieces, to look out of the same windows through which he saw the light that illuminated his canvases, is probably in itself worth the admission price of a. Various exhibitions are scheduled here during the year, including special demonstrations of printmaking and etching. There will also be a display of the artist’s work along with paintings of others sold by his art dealer. At the time, these were Rembrandt’s competitors.

At the Rijks Museum in the “Masterpieces” exhibit, his are the centerpiece of the collection. The most famous of these, “The Jewish Bride” and “The Night Watch” hang here, in an exhibition that also includes the work of Jan Steen, Frans Hals and Vermeer. During the festival other of his works will be recalled from museums around the world, and will be shown here in juxtaposition with his Italian contemporary, Caravaggio. This is being done to contrast the two artists, show the traditions, the disparities and similarities of the Northern and Southern baroque styles.

Other shows will include one at the Municipal Archives, another at the Jewish Historical Museum–“How Jewish Was Rembrandt?” and there will be a walking tour, “In the footsteps of Rembrandt,” leading to the Oude Kerk (Old Church), the Waag (Weighing House), the Royal Palace and the artist’s other local haunts.

Leiden, less than forty minutes by train from the center of Amsterdam, weighs in with its own three exhibitions. Rembrandt lived here for the first twenty-five years of his life and the emphasis in this city is on the young artist. The Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal is located in a 17th Century building and will feature paintings believed to be of his family members; a walking tour includes a look at the house in which he was born, his school, and Swanenburgh’s studio, where the young Rembrandt spent many hours. As a part of the festival, a city square will be transformed into a bit of 17th Century Leiden. In the unlikely event one has not seen enough of the artist’s work in both cities, there’s a gallery of his paintings at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, which is the fourth largest in Europe. Here’s where one can not only view museum-quality art but also throw dice at a casino, have a shampoo at a spa or watch the kids play in the airport’s playground. With 55,000 employees and every conceivable service and product available under its roof, it is a weatherproof city in itself.

Rembrandt (known always by his first rather than his last name since that is how most often he signed his canvases) might be surprised not only to see his work hanging at an air terminal but at the Americanization of modern Amsterdam. These days, everyone speaks English here, eats KFC, bagels and burgers, shops at Old Navy. On the other hand, the city is still very European. There’s smoking allowed in every restaurant, cold cuts are common breakfast fare, 400, 000 bicyclists known here as “flying bombers” zip along without helmets, and same sex marriage is a civil right. There are outdoor cafes, like the popular terraces of DeJaren, where one can sit undisturbed with a glass of beer, maybe the local Grolsch if not a Heinekens, and watch the boats on the Kloveniersburgwal. And of course, as in the days of van Rijn, there are cobblestones, ancient churches and windmills. There is a flower market that features Technicolor tulips however you’ll have them–real, painted on glass, in bulbs, seeds, or carved from wood.

Of course, one must not forget the city’s other famous native son, Vincent van Gogh, known more for sunflowers than tulips, represented by 206 paintings at his eponymous museum.

In a city of 32,500 hotel beds, 70 glass-topped sightseeing canal boats, 260 city trams, and Rembrandt everywhere you look, with a flying time of six or seven hours from the east coast of the United States, an art-loving vacationer can hardly go wrong in Holland’s favorite city.

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ANGERS – THE LOIRE VALLEY

Originally called The Black City because of the dark slate mined and widely used here, Angers (ahn-jay) is considered the gateway to the Loire Valley. This pretty city, with its gardens and large artificial lake, is the former capital of the district of Anjou. It’s easy to reach: the TGV, or high speed train, leaves Paris from a terminal directly in the Charles de Gaulle Airport and zips into town in two hours and fifteen minutes.

Aside from its central location, its major claim to immortality is the Fortress Castle. This overlooks the city from a rocky promontory, covers half a square mile and with its moat and bridge brings to three-dimensional life every sword-and-cannon battle you’ve ever read about in school. Principally built in the thirteenth century, the local counts originally created a stronghold here in the ninth century to protect themselves against the Normans. Only two side walls from this era remain, but following the expulsion of the Plantagenets, Saint-Louis added 17 towers. In the fourteenth century, local dukes erected new buildings inside the fortress, including the Royal Lodge, the chapel and the inner castle.

The eye-popping treasure within its walls is a tapestry approximately 340 feet long, woven on a loom 700 years ago. This “Apocalypse” which represents scenes from the Bible and depicts the ultimate victory of Christ and the triumph of his church took twenty-five people eight years to complete. It is best examined with one of the castle’s guides, who will describe the individual scenes and offer snippets of astonishing information. Over the years, for example, farmers unwittingly used lost panels from this masterpiece as if they were simple fabric scraps. Until rounded up locally by curators and restored for display, tapestry pieces were found covering shrubbery in winter, at the rear of a barn to protect a horse, or fulfilling some other prosaic function.

Castles, of course, are the big draw in the Loire region and they’re almost as common here as turns in the road. A dazzler to visit is the fifteenth century Chateau de Brissac, at seven stories tall, the tallest in France. It is owned by the 18 th descendant of the original duke. This current Marquis de Brissac speaks elegant English, serves as a chatty host and will happily rent out one or all of the castle’s four guest rooms. And what rooms! Picture twenty-foot ceilings, paneling, fireplaces, carvings, four-posters covered with damask and Oriental carpets underfoot in the bathrooms. Famous feet have walked on these or danced in one of the ballrooms. (Photographs of Sophia Loren and Gerard Depardieu are a big tip-off; among other celebrities, both stayed here.) Parties can be arranged in one of the castle’s banquet rooms, there is a theatre on the premises and a surrounding park complete with centuries-old trees.

There’s plenty of life outside the castles, too. The plant at which Cointreau is made and bottled is nearby. Here’s where dried orange peels get turned into the drinks that give a nice glow, thanks to the addition of alcohol and sugar syrup. The formula is a dead secret but guided tours of the plant reveal almost everything else. Tours leave twice a day, more often during the summer season. The liqueur is there to taste as part of the entertainment, and it’s offered for sale here as well.

Perhaps lunch calls for further glass-raising. This is wine country after all, so an appropriate place to eat might be Le Bouchon. This casual restaurant, (in which you’ll sit at a table on backless stools) offers a choice of five hundred wines and, yes, interesting dishes too. La Chiffonnade de Rillauds à la Graine de Moutarde is the house specialty and its translation is “breast of pork in mustard”. The price of this dish is about eight dollars, average for a main lunch course here.

Walk it off shopping. On Rue Toussaint find “antiquités,” as for example at Jolivet, which features exotic pieces, or Antica specializing in furniture. In others you’ll find old French books, bibelots, silver, porcelain. Stop at the half-timbered La Maison d’Adam for local crafts or check out the Angers branch of the big Parisian department store, Galeries Lafayette. Since the area is a popular tourist destination most everyone speaks English. The restaurant menus do need some translation help though, so do bring your French phrase book and learn to say, d’accord, which means, “it’s okay with me.”

If your budget permits, stay at the Château de Noireau in nearby Briollay. This former vegetable farm, now refurbished into a Relais et Châteaux resort, gives special meaning to the word Perfection. With fireplaces everywhere including in the huge guest rooms, a tennis court and swimming pool, gardens to meander in and service that’s a dream, you owe it to yourself at least to take one meal in its pale gold dining room. Every last thing, including the breads and desserts, is prepared under this roof and fifty or sixty dollars will buy you a dinner served under silver domes reflecting light from the chandeliers above. It’s followed by an exotic assortment of original desserts–mousses, ice creams, parfaits, you- name-it, each a piece of sculpture on your plate–followed by petit cookies you can take with your café.

In Angers, you won’t be at a loss about what to write on your postcards home. The Tourist Office on Place Kennedy in town will give you more ideas on how to enjoy the fountains, the gardens, the Cathedral. And within another hour’s driving time, the rest of the Loire Valley waits.