This album amicorum, published on the occasion of Peter Hecht’s retirement from his position of full professor at the University of Utrecht in the summer of 2016, reflects his broad-ranged contribution to art history in the Netherlands. The 34 short articles were written by (international) colleagues from universities and museums. They reflect Hecht’s interest in Dutch art of the Golden Age and his engagement with Dutch public collections, notably in his work for the Vereniging Rembrandt. For example, Rudi Ekkart’s clear and informative essay on the question of why the city council of Enkhuizen never realized a museum, despite the cities’ important role during the Dutch Golden Age, combines Hecht’s interest in the Dutch Golden Age and in historical urban collections. Other essays highlight Hecht’s interest in the art of the late seventeenth century (Schavemaker on Eglon van der Neer, Zakula on Gerard de Lairesse), the reception of Dutch art in the eighteenth (Wuestman on mezzotints after Frans van Mieris) and nineteenth century (Frances Suzman Jowell on Thoré-Burger) and Hecht’s interest in museology (Gordenker on the Mauritshuis).

From the editors