Frans Hals, c. 1628 - c. 1630, painting, SK-A-135
This cheery young man is raising his glass as if to propose a toast. Although the fashion was then for intricate, detailed paintings, Hals applied his paints with quick, confident strokes. This style of painting gives the subject a real sense of movement. This is most obvious with the right hand.
Bartholomeus van der Helst, 1648, painting, SK-C-2
Civic guards were the city’s militia. They were volunteers. In Amsterdam, each district had its own company with its own headquarters. In the 17th century, larger and grander buildings were built. Group portraits of the members lined the walls. In 1648, Van der Helst immortalised this Amsterdam…
On display in room 2.8
Gerard van Honthorst, 1623, painting, SK-A-180
On display in room 2.1
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
Pieter de Hooch, c. 1660 - c. 1661, painting, SK-C-149
A mother is inspecting her child’s hair for lice. They are in a sober Dutch interior, with Delft blue tiles and a bedstead. The chair on the right is a children’s toilet, with a built-in chamber pot. Through the door we see the back room, and catch a glimpse of the garden. These views into the…
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
Frans Hals, c. 1622, painting, SK-A-133
The fabulously wealthy Haarlem merchant and his wife commissioned their friend Frans Hals to paint their portrait in an unusual way. Seventeenth-century couples rarely appear together in a single painting, especially in such a nonchalant pose. Hals included all kinds of symbols of love in the…
Jacob Isaacksz van Ruisdael, c. 1668 - c. 1670, painting, SK-C-211
Viewed from a low perspective, the mill contrasts majestically against the dark sky. The buildings further in the distance are the castle and St Maarten’s church at Wijk bij Duurstede, a major city in the Golden Age. The river in the foreground is the Lek. This is the epitome of a Dutch landscape:…
On display in Gallery of Honour
Gerard ter Borch (II), c. 1654, painting, SK-A-404
A man of the world, a soldier perhaps, is looking admiringly at the young woman in the splendid satin dress. They were once thought to be father and daughter. But perhaps the man is the woman’s suitor, and the older woman is a chaperone. The young woman’s pose, standing with her back to the viewer,…
On display in room 2.25
Willem van de Velde (I), 1657, painting, SK-A-1365
English ships blockaded the Dutch Republic’s harbours in 1653. While leading an attempt to break the blockade, the Dutch admiral Maarten Tromp was killed. His family commissioned this painting of his final battle to commemorate his death. It still has its original frame, featuring the heraldic arms…
On display in room 2.15