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| Bartholomeus Eggers, c. 1637-1692 Bust of Johan Maurits, 1664 |
He built the Dutch Classicist residence in the 1630s, the height of the Dutch Golden Age. In 1820 it was purchased by the Dutch state for the purpose of housing the royal collection of paintings.
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| The Maurice House, Mauritshuis, was built in the 1630s. |
More than two hundred top works from Dutch and Flemish masters are on display there, some of them iconic paintings that are recognized around the world. We had toured the museum in 2003, but since then it had been renovated and expanded. This process made news in the Bay area because while it was going on, the Mauritshuis sent out a traveling exhibition that appeared at the de Young Museum, which we also attended. For our current visit, we were interested in the architectural changes and looking forward to seeing the paintings back in their proper place.
The museum's new extension is actually a separate building, across a narrow street. An underground passageway connects the two buildings. The new building is remarkably austere and functional.
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| The extension is across a narrow street but connected with the old building by an underground passageway |
In the interior, the old building's original elegance has been maintained. It can be devoted completely to the display of art, since the visitor services have been off-loaded to the new building.
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| Hallway of the original building |
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| A gallery in the original building has silk wall covering. |
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| Looking down into the gift shop in the new wing. |
Dutch Golden Age
From our visits to the Rijksmuseum and the Frans Hals Museum we know that there are four big stars of painting in the Dutch Golden Age: Frans Hals, Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Jan Steen, plus two early women painters, Rachel Ruysch and Judith Leyster. Mauritshuis has some of their greatest works.
Frans Hals
Frans Hals was a great portrait artist from Haarlem. He could be formal and precise enough to satisfy the most demanding clients.
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| Frans Hals, 1582-1666 Portrait of Aletta Hanemans, 1625 |
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| Frans Hals, 1582-1666 Laughing Boy, c. 1625 |
Rembrandt
The group portrait was an important genre in the 1600s, and nobody was better at it than Rembrandt. In this depiction of a group of medical specialists, he has added the dramatic focal point of a corpse, giving everyone a good reason to be looking the same way and engaging in the same activity.
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| Rembrandt, 1606-1669 The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, 1632 |
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| Rembrandt, 1606-1669 ‘Tronie’ of a Man with a Feathered Beret, c. 1640 |
Vermeer
One of Vermeer's most beloved paintings makes its home at Mauritshuis.
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| Johannes Vermeer, 1632-1675 Girl with a Pearl Earring, c. 1665 |
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| Johannes Vermeer, 1632-1675 View of Delft, c. 1661 |
Jan Steen
Jan Steen was an outrageously talented and highly productive tavern-keeper. He had a sort of tavern-keeper's sense of humor. He particularly liked to illustrate "old sayings," proverbs that were popular at the time. He was like a cartoonist who asks, what would that common saying look like literally? In the next painting he illustrated a proverb saying that children pick up the habits of their parents. The fashionable woman on the left, raising her glass for a refill, is based on Steen's wife, while the laughing man in the black hat teaching a child to smoke is based on himself. He frequently included his wife and himself in paintings depicting lax standards.
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| Jan Steen, 1625-1679 As the Old Sing, So Pipe the Young, c. 1665 |
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| Jan Steen, 1625-1679 Woman Playing the Sistrum, circa 1662 |
Judith Leyster
Two women cracked the market during the 1600s. Judith Leyster was from Haarlem, from the generation following Frans Hals and influenced by his style.
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| Judith Leyster, 1609-1660 Man Offering Money to a Young Woman, 1631 |
Rachel Ruysch
Rachel Ruysch specialized in floral still lifes. Considering the amount of competition in this field, it is much to her credit that she was able to make it.
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| Rachel Ruysch, 1664-1750 Vase of Flowers, 1700 |
Other Dutch Masters
Dutch art of the Golden Age was very much influenced by an Italian painter named Caravaggio. Specifically, it was his dramatic, high-contrast lighting that everyone wanted to adopt, and a certain theatrical point of view. Kendrick ter Bruggehen was one of the most accomplished of Caravaggio's followers in the Netherlands. In this painting, an angel is explaining to Peter, a disciple of Christ, that he has been freed from his imprisonment.
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| Hendrick ter Brugghen, 1588-1629 The Liberation of Peter, 1624 |
Pieter Saenredam specialized in depicting buildings in a style that was both precise and atmospheric.
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| Pieter Saenredam, 1597-1665 The Mariaplaats with the Mariakerk in Utrecht, 1659 |
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| Jacob van Ruisdael, 1628-1682 View of Bentheim Castle, c. 1654 |
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| Meindert Hobbema, 1638-1709 Wooded Landscape with Cottages, c. 1665 |
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| Paulus Potter, 1625-1654 The Bull, 1647 |
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| Mark Tansey, b. 1949 The Innocent Eye Test, 1981 Metropolitan Museum, NYC |
Actually, several painters specialized in floral still life; it was a very popular genre during the 1600s. Just for the pure luxury of flowers in abundance, here is a bouquet of examples.
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| Balthasar van der Ast, 1593-1657 Flowers in a Wan-Li Vase, with Shells, c. 1650 |
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| Dirck de Bray, c. 1635-1694 Still Life with a Bouquet in the Making, 1674 |
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| Ambrosius Bosschaert I, 1573-1621 Vase of Flowers in a Window, c. 1618 |
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| Jacob de Gheyn II, 1565-1629 Flowers in a Glass Flask, 1612 |
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| Jan Brueghel I, 1568-1625 Flowers in a Wan-Li Vase, c. 1615 |
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| Jan Davidsz de Heem, 1606-1684 Vase of Flowers, c. 1670 |
Conclusion
In addition to the big names of the Dutch Golden Age, the museum also has works by less famous but very important and talented Dutch artists, plus Flemish masterpieces from the period. We enjoyed our immersion in the work of the old masters very much.
We had lunch in the museum's spiffy new restaurant.
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| Excellent fish dish, with veggies and mashed potatoes |
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| After a latte and a pastry, Captain Dan is ready to get back to work. |
