Art

Famed Dutch actor Rutger Hauer was pronounced dead on Friday in his hometown of Beetsterzwaag, Friesland, a representative for his family said to newswire ANP. The Golden Globe-winning actor was 75 years old.

Hauer passed away after a brief illness. A small, private funeral took place earlier on Wednesday before his death was publicly revealed later in the evening.

On Monday the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is starting the restoration of Rembrandt van Rijn's 1642 masterpiece the Night Watch. The painting will be restored behind a glass wall in the museum itself, which means that the public can follow along with the restoration.

The devastating fire in Notre-Dame again showed how vulnerable historic buildings can be. And the same is true for Dutch monuments, Bjorn Peters, consultant on fire safety of monuments at DGMR and guest lecturer at TU Delft, and Walter de Koning of the foundation for monument care and restoration ERM said to NU.nl.

The revolver it is widely believed Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh used to take his own life in 1890, will be going up for auction in Paris on June 19th. Auction house AuctionArt believes the 7 mm Lefaucheux revolver, which it dubbed "the most famous weapon in art history", will be sold for between 40 thousand and 60 thousand euros, Artnet reports.

The Rijksmuseum is in talks with Sri Lanka and Indonesia about the restitution of art taken from those countries in colonial times. Rijksmusuem director Taco Dibbits called it scandalous that the Netherlands hasn't worried about this issue before now. "We should have done this much earlier. There is no excuse for that", he said to newspaper Trouw.

Exhibition 'Everyone a Photographer' currently in the Rijksmuseum shows the start of amateur photography. The over 100 year old photos on display are all remarkable in their unremarkable way - a baby photo, a family portrait, a seflie in the mirror. The exhibition focuses on how photography changed from solemnly posed portraits to snapshots of spontaneity at the turn of the previous century. "You can say that at that moment the daily life came into photography", Mattie Boom, who obtained her doctorate with these photos, said to NOS.

A golden love ring from the Middle Ages was recently found in the province of Utrecht. This is the first time ever that a so-called 'black letter posy ring' is found in the Netherlands, Landscape Heritage Utrecht's archeology department announced. The location where this unique discovery was made was not disclosed, at the request of the anonymous finder.

The love ring dates from between 1375 and 1550, according to the organization. Sweet messages were engraved on such rings, like 'think of me' or 'I love only you'. These rings were mainly made in England for women.

Years of research at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam into Vincent van Gogh's famous Sunflowers revealed that the painting is in a stable, but fragile state. "That is why we have decided that Sunflowers will no longer travel away from the museum. From now on, this highlight of our collection will stay at home in Amsterdam, available for all our visitors to see every day of the year", museum director Axel Ruger said on the museum's website.

The Hermitage museum in Amsterdam is giving free entry to anyone called Amalia or Catharina on Friday, to celebrate princess Amalia's 15th birthday. Anyone with a similar name like Katja, Kate, Amelia or Amelie can also get in for free. All you need is a valid identity card, the Telegraaf reports.

Henk Laarmans experienced every bargain hunter's dream come true. He bought a painting for 75 euros at a thrift store, and then sold it for over 30 thousand euros on auction on Monday. The painting in question is 'A sunny day in the dunes' by Johan Aarts, RTL Nieuws reports.

After buying the pointillist painting at a thrift store, Laarmans took it to an art expert at Tussen Kunst and Kitsch, who told him he had something valuable in his possession.

Rumors that an author recovered a stolen Picasso painting, taken in a daring 2012 heist at the Kunsthal in Rotterdam, were the result of a hoax perpetrated by a Belgian theater group. The group, called Berlin, duped Dutch writer Mira Feticu as part of an apparent stunt to promote performances of a play spotlighting a Dutch art forger.