If one thinks of Dutch painting in the Golden Age, names such as Rembrandt, Frans Hals and Johannes Vermeer immediately spring to mind. The exhibition The Bloemaert Effect adds a further name to this list, an influential painter who has left an impressive oeuvre: Abraham Bloemaert (1566-1651). The 50 paintings and 40 works on paper provided by museums, private collections and churches in Europe and America comprise the first large-scale retrospective of Bloemaert's work. His oeuvre is remarkably diverse, not only with regards to style, but also subject matter and format. It includes large altarpieces, small mythological paintings, but also sketches of nature. Bloemaert developed from a Mannerist to a Classicist, but a few works showing Caravaggistic influences are also known by his hand. The Bloemaert Effect is on display in Centraal Museum from 11 November through to 5 February 2012, and will then travel on to Staatliches Museum Schwerin in Germany, collaborator of this exhibition and its catalogue.