The year 2024 marks the 400th anniversary of the founding of Fort Orange, the first permanent Dutch settlement that developed into the present-day city of Albany. To commemorate this milestone, the Albany Institute developed this exhibition centered around a partnership with The Leiden Collection, one of the preeminent private collections of seventeenth-century Dutch paintings in the United States.

In addition to twenty paintings from The Leiden Collection, Delights of the Senses includes several prints from the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College, along with objects from First Church, Albany, Friends of Historic Kingston, Historic Huguenot Street, Historic Hudson Valley, the New York State Museum, and from the rich holdings of the Albany Institute.

The exhibition presents paintings and objects that examine seventeenth-century Dutch culture through the five senses. Paintings of everyday life by Dutch artists such as Gerrit Dou (1613–1675), Jan Steen (1626–1679), and Gabriel Metsu (1629–1667) alongside objects similar to those in the paintings are on view. Displayed together, these paintings and objects invite viewers to imagine daily moments in an earlier time—whether it be an encounter with lively music, soft fur, a fragrant bouquet, or a hoppy glass of beer—as they were perceived not just through the eyes, but all the senses.

Delights of the Senses: Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art and Life, Featuring Paintings from The Leiden Collection is supported by Albany County American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funding provided by the U.S. Department of Treasury. The project is also supported by a grant awarded to the Albany Institute of History & Art by Empire State Development and I LOVE NY / New York State’s Division of Tourism through the Regional Economic Development Council initiative.

This exhibition is supported as part of the DutchCultureUSA / Future 400 program by the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in New York.

Additional support for Delights of the Senses is provided by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, John D. Picotte Family Foundation, Netherland-America Foundation, the Maurice D. Hinchey Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area, Discover Albany, the Holland Society of New York, Douglas L. Cohn, D.V.M. and Barry Brown, and Louise Falk Marwill and Lawrence R. Marwill, MD.

Thank you to the Albany County ARPA Executive Committee:

Daniel P. McCoy                              Albany County Executive

Joanne Cunningham                       Chairwoman, Albany County Legislature

Dennis Feeney                                 Majority Leader, Albany County Legislature

Frank Mauriello                               Minority Leader, Albany County Legislature

Dr. Carolyn McLaughlin                  Chair, Albany County Legislative Black Caucus

Susan A. Rizzo                                Albany County Comptroller

M. David Reilly                                Commissioner of Management and Budget

We would like to invite all self-identifying Indigenous peoples to access our current exhibitions without charge.