The purchase can count on lukewarm enthusiasm in both Chambers. Various parties complain about the timing of the purchase. Many makers in the creative sector, often working as freelancers, are suffering from the corona measures. The fact that the cabinet is now allocating 150 million euros for a single work is a concern for parties. The left-wing opposition parties, among others, want them to be better helped by the cabinet. The VVD also considers a debate about the position of self-employed workers in the cultural sector ‘very good and necessary’, but it is not a condition for support for the purchase.
Uslu understands that the sale feels “uncomfortable” during a pandemic. But the fact that such work is now on the market offers an opportunity that will not arise again soon, according to the State Secretary. Uslu, who previously worked as an art historian, points to the ‘unique style’ of the work, which she believes is a prelude to Rembrandt’s most famous work The Night Watch. “It’s a turning point in his career.”
‘National treasure’
The Rothschild family put the canvas up for sale in 2018, but first the French government wanted to lay claim to the work because it considered De Vaandeldrager a “national treasure.” There is already an agreement between the cabinet and the family about the purchase.
This is not the first time that the state has bought art. In 1998 it bought the Victory Boogie Woogie from painter Piet Mondrian for 80 million guilders. In 2015, the government and France bought two works by Rembrandt: the wedding portraits by Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit. Both countries paid 80 million euros. The canvases may only hang in the Louvre or the Rijksmuseum.