Dutch Art in a Global Age: Masterpieces from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

CRITIC’S PICK: Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750) was a still life painter from the Netherlands who became prominent in the Dutch Golden Age. Her successful career lasted more than six decades during which she produced hundreds of paintings; many of them sold for higher prices than those of Rembrandt, her contemporary. This exhibition features works by both artists, as well as Jacob van Ruisdael, Frans Hals, Jan Steen, and Willem Kalf; it includes prints, maps, and stunning decorative objects in silver and porcelain from the seventeenth and the first half of the eighteenth centuries. Curators say the display explores how Dutch preeminence in international maritime trade and the influx of new goods and information transformed life in the Netherlands and led to a remarkable cultural flowering. — Kevin C. Madigan