Jane with the pearl earring

I believe I have mentioned once or 12 times on my blog that my favorite artist is Johannes Vermeer, one of the Dutch Masters. His most well known work is Girl With A Pearl Earring done in 1665. For the second time in my life -- and the first time up close and personal -- I got to see my darlin.' Of course, I wore my pearl earrings knowing we would be visiting.

She belongs to the Mauritshuis (below), a museum in The Hague, the Netherlands, which is famous for their paintings of the Old Masters from the Dutch Golden Age.

Earl, Elizabeth, and I saw The Girl with a Pearl Earring when she was on loan to a San Francisco museum about six years ago. I was excited to see her, but we were so far apart from her, displayed in a darkened alcove. Remember, Libby?

I expected the same thing at the Mauritshuis and while she is their most important work, the painting is displayed (below) like all others, with the exception of a small rounded "fence" beneath her.

Another famous painting, The Goldfinch, (below) by Carel Fabritius is part of this museum's collection. It's always been among my favorites. I have a cheap copy in our upstairs hallway so I enjoyed seeing the real thing.

This museum was built in 1633 as a residence for a count. Look how pretty the rooms are (below). Excuse my finger displayed on one shot. I'm such a ditz.

See this room (below)?

I took a close up of one of the light fixtures (below) on the wall to show you because they made me laugh.

The museum has an elevator in this grand old building -- they have to, of course -- but they try to blend it in as much as possible with the landing.  First, it's a glass elevator surrounded by glass ... then the top of the elevator is the same as the floor.  This sequence (below) of the elevator going down shows you.

 

Isn't that cool!  Not a bad way to do an elevator!

Now to show you some of my favorites (below) of the Dutch Masters in this collection. For most of them, I also included a closer view of the painting.

The color and the detail on these paintings is incredible.  This is Aletta Hanemans (below), a 19-year old bride in her wedding apparel. She was a grain merchant's daughter being married to a man who was both a brewer and a magistrate.

Look at a close-up (below) of part of her clothing called a "bridal stomacher" also referred to a 'bruidsborst.'  Hers is costly, worked with gold thread and showing various flowers. Look how Frans Gals painted the details!

We had wonderful time at this museum, thanks to The Mister who planned it all out. We left Bruges this morning and arrived at Leiden, The Netherlands this evening with The Hague in between.

More about The Hague.

I told Earl today that I think I was in my 20s before I knew that The Hague was a city in The Netherlands. I thought it was some court thing held in Belgium or someplace.  The Hague is the capital of The Netherlands  and is home to the U.N.’s International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, so I guess that's what mixed me up.

We came to The Hague just for the art museum but The Hague is also home to the Dutch Parliament (below) which just happens to be next to the museum, so we strolled around its grounds.

Speaking about not knowing things ...  I didn't know the difference between Holland and The Netherlands -- or are they the same thing, I wondered? Before the Grand Tour, I looked it up and found that Holland is one section (the most important) of the country called The Netherlands.

I may be late to learn ... but I get there eventually.

He's not so sure.

Thanks for reading my blog!
Jane