Rembrandt paintings hanging a few blocks from Central Park, used as evidence about what New Amsterdam actually looked like, is not a combination the city offers often, and it ends August 30. New York Historical borrowed Dutch Golden Age canvases and set them against the settlement's own documents and objects, so the portraits double as reporting. If you like history shows that are also genuinely great picture-hanging, catch it before it comes down.
What to expect
The exhibition occupies a temporary gallery on the museum's main floors, laid out so the paintings and the colonial material sit in the same rooms. Free docent tours run twice daily and are the fastest way into the argument. Afterwards the Tiffany lamp gallery upstairs is a short walk away.
Good to know
- Take the B or C to 81st Street-Museum of Natural History and walk one block south
- Free guided tours run twice each afternoon, subject to availability
- Closing days draw crowds, so aim for the first hour after opening
- Combine it with the Weitzman Shoe Museum and the Gallery of Tiffany Lamps in the same building
- Fully accessible; the galleries are on elevator-served floors
- Good for history buffs, painting lovers and visiting families alike
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Common questions
Are there real Rembrandts in the show?
Yes. New York Historical built the exhibition around paintings by Rembrandt and his seventeenth-century contemporaries.
Is admission to New York Historical timed?
Tickets are sold at the door and online. Buying online is quicker on busy afternoons, especially in a closing week.
What else is on view in the building?
Betye Saar's Black Dolls, Revolutionary Women, Democracy Matters and the Gallery of Tiffany Lamps are all on view.
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