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A Pelican and other Birds near a…
Melchior d'Hondecoeter, c. 1680, painting, SK-A-175
Melchior d’Hondecoeter specialised in depicting birds. Here he painted a pelican, various ducks, a cassowary (left), a flamingo and an African crested crane. D’Hondecoeter was commissioned to paint the work by Stadholder William III and his wife Mary. It was intended for Het Loo palace, where…
On display in room 2.22
Woman Reading a Letter
Johannes Vermeer, c. 1663, painting, SK-C-251
In a quiet, private moment, a young woman stands, engrossed in reading a letter. It is morning, and she is still wearing her blue nightrobe. All the other colours are subordinate to its radiant lapis lazuli; yellow and red hardly make an appearance. Vermeer rendered the different effects of the cool…
On display in Gallery of Honour
River Landscape with Riders
Aelbert Cuyp, c. 1653 - 1657, painting, SK-A-4118
Travellers are resting their horses in a sun-soaked river landscape. To judge from their orange shawls, they seem to be Dutch army officers. Cuyp saw these steep hills when he travelled along the River Rhine between Nijmegen and Cleves. It was probably the sketches he drew there that formed the…
On display in Gallery of Honour
The Singel Bridge at the…
George Hendrik Breitner, 1898, painting, SK-A-3580
Breitner often took photos when preparing a painting. Several preparatory photos for this painting are also known. The way the woman is walking directly towards us and the way the picture is cropped gives it a photographic feel. Originally, Breitner’s subject was a maid, but following the negative…
On display in room 1.18
Portrait of a Girl Dressed in Blue
Johannes Cornelisz. Verspronck, 1641, painting, SK-A-3064
What made this such a popular portrait? That it shows a pretty child dressed in her finest clothes? As was usual at the time, the girl actually has an adult appearance. Her facial expression is all that shows she is playing the role. Unfortunately, we no longer know who she was.
On display in Gallery of Honour
View of Houses in Delft, Known as…
Johannes Vermeer, c. 1658, painting, SK-A-2860
An unusual painting in Vermeer’s oeuvre: a few houses and a couple of people in a quiet street. Vermeer gave the scene a palpable sense of tension and balance. The old walls, worn bricks and white plaster are almost tangible. What part of Delft this shows is no longer known.
On display in Gallery of Honour
View of Olinda, Brazil
Frans Jansz Post, 1662, painting, SK-A-742
Tempted by Brazil’s sugar plantations, in the 1630s the Dutch captured much of Portugal’s colony on South America’s western coast. They were forced to withdraw in the 1650s. Frans Post went to Brazil from 1636 to 1644 to sketch and paint the country and its inhabitants. Back in the Netherlands, he…
On display in room 2.10
Piano Practice Interrupted
Willem Bartel van der Kooi, 1813, painting, SK-A-1065
A native of Friesland, artist Van der Kooi specialised in painting children. The children in this painting are shown in a playful, spontaneous pose. It could almost be a snapshot. Yet appearances are deceptive. The artist arranged the children deliberately to form a triangular composition. And we no…
On display in room 1.12
FK 23 Bantam
Frits Koolhoven, 1918, NG-2011-1
The F.K. 23 Bantam was developed in 1917 by Dutch aviation pioneer Frederick Koolhoven, then working as chief designer at British Aerial Transport Company. The biplane was intended as a fighter for the nascent Royal Air Force in the First World War. This craft was shown in 1919 at the First Aviation…
On display in room 3.2
Portrait of Raden Syarif Bustaman…
Friedrich Carl Albert Schreuel (attributed to), c. 1840, painting, SK-A-4703
On display in room 1.17