The Hague, Mauritshuis Museum, and Delft

I had no strategy how substantially I would appreciate The Hague! It’s a lovely and tranquil metropolis, crisscrossed with canals, extremely walkable, total of numerous superb eating places, and with general public transportation that can make it easy to get in all places else in Holland. And on top rated of all that allure and livability, it has an extraordinary entire world-class museum correct in the center of it, the Mauritshius, which has a selection of operates by artists like Vermeer, Rubens, Holbein, and Rembrandt! My husband Nowell and I were pretty content with our final decision to make The Hague our property-base in Holland.

As we walked to the Mauristhuis museum we stopped for a photo at this amazing check out of the Dutch Parliament. The 13th-century Binnenhof is the oldest parliament developing however in use. The overall body of h2o before it is known as the Hofvijver which suggests “court pond”. It really is spectacular to see these types of magnificence in the middle of a city… and glimpse at that vintage Dutch sky!

The Maurithuis museum was just a 15-minute flat and picturesque stroll from our hotel, so we arrived clean and completely ready for an thrilling dose of Artwork! This is a stunning assortment with several quite well known gems, together with Vermeer’s Girl with the Pearl Earring and View of Delft, as effectively as Fabritius’ Goldfinch.

I got some great depth photographs showing the cracks and restoration of Female with the Pearl, the astonishing pointillism and small, specific designs of Look at of Delft, and the luscious brushwork of the Goldfinch.

Girl with the Pearl and Goldfinch have been in fact exhibited a handful of a long time back in San Francisco where by I are living, so incredibly surprisingly this was my Second time looking at both equally these legendary functions. I did prefer seeing them in their property in the Mauristhuis, although. In the San Francisco exhibit Goldfinch was hung in a slim hallway, and The Pearl was hung in a absolutely black place with an intense spotlight, which was intended to enhance the drama of the knowledge, but instead created the face blindingly gentle. So I was in a position to appreciate the two functions superior in this appropriately-lit museum.

How typically do you get to admire and evaluate two Rubens marriage portraits and two Van Dyck marriage portraits all in a single home collectively?

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

I actually fell in like with this Van Dyck portrait. As significantly as I admire Rubens as a painter, when it comes to portraiture, Van Dyck has the means to seize a powerful emotion of becoming in the presence of a authentic person.

The Mauristhuis also has a Rubens oil sketch of the identical subject I noticed in the Our Woman cathedral in Antwerp just a couple of times before this, Mary’s assumption to heaven:

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

You can see the stone arch to the proper of Mary was omitted in the final, and you can also see the blue coloration is unique: The remaining painting used much more high-priced pigments, like lapis lazuli for the blues, which at the time was even extra expensive than gold. In this article are my detail shots of the sketch:

Far more information from paintings by Rubens, Pieter van Anraadt, Pieter Claesz, Gabriël Metsu, Jan van Huysum, Franz Hals, Saloman van Ruisdale, Holbein:

And a pleasant collection of Rembrandts, like this very small head of a Laughing Guy and the renowned Anatomy Lesson:

The Hague is a wonderful city and also really livable For the reason that it is not mobbed with vacationers, most the men and women you see are just heading about their standard everyday living, selecting up their children from college or assembly pals for a consume soon after do the job. It is really a major town, but there does not appear to be a large amount of noise or traffic, likely simply because most people today travel by bike, so just strolling about felt quiet and calming.

There’s also a attractive tiny museum devoted to MC Escher, which we definitely enjoyed.

Delft was a incredibly uncomplicated daytrip, due to the fact we could get there on the nearby tram line which had a prevent right exterior the door of our hotel and took us to the coronary heart of Delft in about 30 minutes. The Hague’s public transportation was really straightforward for a visitor, simply because you can just obtain the “HTM” app to your phone the place you can get solitary tickets or day-very long tickets, and the QRC ticket just seems.

Delft is a gorgeous put just to wander about, and we liked acquiring a slower-paced working day, so we failed to do any formal excursions, but just admired the surroundings (and the foodstuff!).

Again in the Hague:

We had superb foods all inside a couple blocks of our hotel at Walter Benedict, Bistro Mer and Follia.

We beloved the YAYs lodge we stayed in (tackle: Koninginnegracht 20, 2514 AB Den Haag), which has apartment suites with kitchenettes, such as a totally free laundry place for company, for much less than a solitary lodge home in Amsterdam. It can be in a wonderful tiny community with heaps of dining places and a convenient small grocery retail store, and only a 15 moment walk to the Mauristhuis museum. It was effortless to acquire the tram from just a few actions exterior the door of the lodge to the Holland Spoor teach station, which is how we frequented Amsterdam and the unbelievable Rijksmuseum, which I am going to create about in my next website write-up.

This write-up is component of a collection about our modern European tour by means of Paris, Antwerp, The Hague, Amsterdam, and Vienna. If you have not but, indicator up for my e-newsletter so you by no means miss out on one of my data-packed blog site posts. Also, I am presently doing work on a new painting video clip to be produced by the finish of this yr. “Glazing and Scumbling a Even now Existence with Roses” will be a comply with-up to my primary “Glazing and Scumbling” on the net program, so I propose getting that if you have not still, to get the most out of my subsequent release!