Images of Erasmus

Although it’s not absolutely certain that (and if so, when) Erasmus was born in Rotterdam - his name is inextricably linked to this Dutch city at the river Meuse.

Erasmus’ statue is in Rotterdam since 1549. First it was in wood, then in stone and from 1622 onward, the famous humanist is memorized with a bronze statue by Hendrick de Keyser.
Rotterdam has the biggest collection of books by and on Desiderius Erasmus and almost 3000 letters written by him. The Erasmus University is there, as welle as the Erasmus Centre for Early Modern Studies, The Erasmus Medical Centre, the Erasmus Bridge. And every ten years or so, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam organises an exhibition about this influential writer.

The last exhibition in the series was Images of Erasmus. More than 150 artworks from all over the world provided a picture of Erasmus’ importance and the influence his writings had on society and the arts.

During the exhibition, a symposium was organised with lectures by experts in the field. Thus, professor Herman Pleij takes you to the Low Countries’ folk tradition of carnival, whereas professor Larry Silver is your guide in the medieval financial world in Antwerp.

Images of Erasmus was on view at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, from November 8th 2008 - February 9th 2009.