The book presents a wide array of subject-matter, ranging from sixteenth-century Flemish altarpieces to the heroes of Dutch seventeenth-century Dutch painting such as Rembrandt, Gerrit Dou and Jacob van Ruisdael, as well as the works of lesser-known Dutch and Flemish – and two Italian – painters, draughtsmen and printmakers. Two very personal contributions come in the form of a pair of short stories by Astrid Tümpel and a portrait drawing of Alfred Bader by Charles Munch. Alfred Bader, who celebrated his eightieth birthday in 2004 and to whom the book is dedicated, is well-known for his passion for Rembrandt and the Rembrandt school, his own collection of Dutch art, and for his generosity towards learned institutions, notably at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and at Kingston, Ontario.

Contributors to this album amicorum include colleagues and students encountered and befriended by Alfred Bader throughout his career as a collector and scholar. They are: Volker Manuth, University of Nijmegen; Axel Rüger, National Gallery, London; Ronni Baer, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Jonathan Bikker, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; Christopher Brown, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; George S. Keyes, Detroit Institute of Arts; Rüdiger Klessmann, Augsburg; Walter Liedtke, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Gregory Martin, Christie’s, London; David McTavish, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario; Pierre de la Ruffinière du Prey, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario; William W. Robinson, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Mass. ; Jane Russell Cobbett, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario; Seymour Slive, Cambridge, Mass.; J. Douglas Stewart, Kingston, Ontario; Astrid Tümpel, Ahrensburg; Christian Tümpel, Ahrensburg; Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr, National Gallery of Art, Washington; Clovis Whitfield, Whitfield Fine Art, London; Marjorie E. Wieseman, Cincinnatu Museum of Art; David de Witt, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario; Martha Wolff, Art Institute of Chicago Includes list of publications by Alfred Bader.