The Hague, Mauritshuis Museum, and Delft

I experienced no thought how a great deal I would really like The Hague! It is really a attractive and peaceful city, crisscrossed with canals, really walkable, whole of several fantastic eating places, and with community transportation that tends to make it straightforward to get all over the place else in Holland. And on major of all that attraction and livability, it has an amazing world-class museum right in the middle of it, the Mauritshius, which has a collection of performs by artists like Vermeer, Rubens, Holbein, and Rembrandt! My husband Nowell and I have been incredibly delighted with our conclusion to make The Hague our property-base in Holland.

As we walked to the Mauristhuis museum we stopped for a photo at this gorgeous view of the Dutch Parliament. The 13th-century Binnenhof is the oldest parliament setting up nevertheless in use. The overall body of h2o right before it is termed the Hofvijver which usually means “courtroom pond”. It can be spectacular to see these splendor in the middle of a city… and search at that common Dutch sky!

The Maurithuis museum was just a 15-minute flat and picturesque stroll from our lodge, so we arrived contemporary and completely ready for an enjoyable dose of Art! This is a beautiful selection with several extremely well-known gems, including Vermeer’s Girl with the Pearl Earring and Watch of Delft, as effectively as Fabritius’ Goldfinch.

I bought some fantastic element shots displaying the cracks and restoration of Girl with the Pearl, the astonishing pointillism and tiny, specific shapes of Look at of Delft, and the luscious brushwork of the Goldfinch.

Woman with the Pearl and Goldfinch were really exhibited a few decades back in San Francisco wherever I reside, so pretty unusually this was my Next time observing equally these legendary performs. I did like seeing them in their home in the Mauristhuis, while. In the San Francisco show Goldfinch was hung in a slender hallway, and The Pearl was hung in a fully black area with an intense spotlight, which was supposed to increase the drama of the experience, but instead made the deal with blindingly light. So I was ready to enjoy both operates far better in this properly-lit museum.

How frequently do you get to admire and review two Rubens relationship portraits and two Van Dyck relationship portraits all in one particular place together?

Still left Rubens’ Peter Van Hack, Claire Fourement and Van Dyck’s Peeter Stevens and Anna Wake (concerning them is an extraordinary “kunstkamer” or “artwork space” by Willem van Haecht.

I actually fell in enjoy with this Van Dyck portrait. As a great deal as I admire Rubens as a painter, when it will come to portraiture, Van Dyck has the ability to capture a solid experience of being in the existence of a true person.

The Mauristhuis also has a Rubens oil sketch of the same subject I saw in the Our Girl cathedral in Antwerp just a number of days prior to this, Mary’s assumption to heaven:

Still left is the ~3-foot tall sketch in the Mauristhuis museum, on the correct is the ~15-foot tall portray installed in the Antwerp cathedral.

You can see the stone arch to the ideal of Mary was omitted in the closing, and you can also see the blue coloration is diverse: The remaining portray used far more high priced pigments, such as lapis lazuli for the blues, which at the time was even extra pricey than gold. Listed here are my element photographs of the sketch:

More facts from paintings by Rubens, Pieter van Anraadt, Pieter Claesz, Gabriël Metsu, Jan van Huysum, Franz Hals, Saloman van Ruisdale, Holbein:

And a awesome selection of Rembrandts, which include this tiny head of a Laughing Male and the renowned Anatomy Lesson:

The Hague is a wonderful metropolis and also incredibly livable Simply because it is not mobbed with visitors, most the folks you see are just heading about their regular existence, selecting up their young children from school or assembly good friends for a consume just after work. It is really a important metropolis, but there does not seem to be a good deal of sounds or website traffic, probably due to the fact most people vacation by bike, so just strolling about felt calm and soothing.

You will find also a attractive minimal museum devoted to MC Escher, which we truly liked.

Delft was a really simple daytrip, due to the fact we could get there on the regional tram line which had a quit correct outside the door of our resort and took us to the coronary heart of Delft in about 30 minutes. The Hague’s community transportation was pretty effortless for a customer, for the reason that you can just download the “HTM” app to your cellular phone where you can buy single tickets or working day-very long tickets, and the QRC ticket just appears.

Delft is a beautiful place just to wander all around, and we loved having a slower-paced day, so we did not do any formal tours, but just admired the surroundings (and the meals!).

Back again in the Hague:

We experienced fantastic foods all in just a couple blocks of our lodge at Walter Benedict, Bistro Mer and Follia.

We cherished the YAYs lodge we stayed in (address: Koninginnegracht 20, 2514 AB Den Haag), which has apartment suites with kitchenettes, including a free of charge laundry space for company, for much less than a one hotel place in Amsterdam. It really is in a excellent tiny community with lots of places to eat and a handy very little grocery retailer, and only a 15 moment walk to the Mauristhuis museum. It was quick to choose the tram from just a handful of techniques outdoors the door of the hotel to the Holland Spoor practice station, which is how we frequented Amsterdam and the unbelievable Rijksmuseum, which I will generate about in my next blog site put up.

This publish is component of a collection about our the latest European tour by Paris, Antwerp, The Hague, Amsterdam, and Vienna. If you have not nevertheless, sign up for my newsletter so you under no circumstances overlook a single of my information-packed weblog posts. Also, I am presently functioning on a new painting movie to be introduced by the conclude of this 12 months. “Glazing and Scumbling a Even now Daily life with Roses” will be a adhere to-up to my original “Glazing and Scumbling” on line study course, so I propose acquiring that if you have not still, to get the most out of my upcoming launch!