Crane delivers Hermitage Museum Golden Age portrait montage

Fifteen huge group portraits of the 17th century was brought in through the roof of the Hermitage Museum in Amsterdam with a crane. These artworks come from the Rijks and Amsterdam Museum and can be viewed from end November in the exposition Hollanders of the Golden Age. This is an exciting job as it really happens that these masterpieces travel such a distance. The Hermitage Museum had the roof specially modified for the move as none of the paintings would fit through a door. The largest canvas is more than 3 by 6 meters in size.

One of the masterpieces is the 1632 painting by Nicolaes Pickenoy - the Meal of gunmen (Maaltijd van schutters) from the company of Captain Jacob Backer and Lieutenant Jacob Rogh. This almost 2 by 5 meter large painting has been hanging in the Schuttersgalerij since the opening of the Amsterdam Museum in 1975. See more pictures of the spectacle here.