About the exhibition
The exhibition covers a broad selection of the best Dutch genre paintings from the Royal Collection. It includes 22 paintings from the British Royal Collection plus one belonging to the Mauritshuis, The Young Mother by Gerrit Dou.
This painting was part of the British Royal Collection until about 1700, and came into Dutch ownership through King and Stadholder William III. The highlights of the exhibition are Johannes Vermeer's The Music Lesson and Jan Steen's A Woman at her Toilet. Also featured are significant works by other grand masters of Dutch genre painting, such as Gerard ter Borch, Gerrit Dou, Pieter de Hooch, Willem van Mieris and Gabriël Metsu.
The Music Lesson is one of 36 surviving and very rare pieces by Johannes Vermeer. This painting dates from 1660-1662 and shows a lady and a gentleman beside a virginal. Above the instrument hangs a mirror, in which we see the reflection of the foot of Vermeer's easel. Music is undoubtedly a symbol of love in this painting, and this is confirmed by the Latin maxim on the virginal. The painting was acquired by King George III of England in 1762, but was attributed to Frans van Mieris the Elder at the time. Only later was it recognised as a piece by Vermeer.
Another of the exhibition's highlights is a painting by Jan Steen, which dates from 1663. It was once known as A Woman at Her Toilet. In it we see a young woman who, judging by the indents above her calves, is not pulling her stocking on, but off, as her eyes meet those of the viewer. Here too, the context is seen as amorous. These representations were extremely popular in their day. Steen makes the point that the physical pleasures are transient by showing a skull in the door opening, under a lute with a broken string.
The Royal Collection and the Mauritshuis
The British Royal Collection is one of the largest and most important collections in the world and one of the last great European royal collections to remain intact. The Royal Collection and the Mauritshuis have much in common: both are royal collections and both contain a magnificent collection of Dutch masters of the Golden Age. King George IV of England was a key figure in the history of the Royal Collection. In the early decades of the nineteenth century he acquired many of the paintings which are now seen as jewels in the crown of the English royal collection. The foundations for the Mauritshuis collection were laid by the stadholders William IV and William V. Their descendant, King William I, bequeathed the collection to the Dutch state in 1816 and the museum still bears the name Mauritshuis Royal Picture Gallery.
The exhibition At Home in Holland: Vermeer and his Contemporaries from the British Royal Collection is a collaboration between Royal Collection Trust and the Mauritshuis. The exhibition was held at The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London, under the title Masters of the Everyday: Dutch Artists in the Age of Vermeer from 13 November 2015 to 14 February 2016. It is currently on display at The Queen’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh until 17 July 2016. Then, from Thursday 29 September 2016, the paintings will be on view in the Mauritshuis in The Hague.
Catalogue
The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated Dutch and English language catalogue, published by Royal Collection Trust, the Mauritshuis and Mercatorfonds. The catalogue was written by the exhibition's curators, Desmond Shawe-Taylor (Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures, Royal Collection Trust) and Quentin Buvelot (head curator at the Mauritshuis). Masters of the Everyday: Dutch Artists in the Age of Vermeer is currently available from the Mauritshuis museum shop.
Vermeer en zijn tijdgenoten
Hollandse genrestukken uit de Royal Collection
ISBN 978-94-6230-102-3
Masters of the Everyday
Dutch Artists in the Age of Vermeer
ISBN 978 94 6230 104 7
Published by The Royal Collection Trust, Mauritshuis and Mercatorfonds.
Price catalogue €29,95
Exhibition
Title: At Home in Holland: Vermeer and his Contemporaries from the British Royal Collection
Date: 29 September 2016 – 8 January 2017