Mauritshuis, The Hague. October 11, 2008 through January 11, 2009. Picture yourself in the Dutch cities of nearly four centuries ago and view city life through the eyes of painters like Johannes Vermeer, Esaias van de Velde and Adriaen van de Venne.

You will often recognise the historic places they depicted as the present-day tourist attractions, such as the Royal Palace on Dam Square in Amsterdam, the Saint Bavo Cathedral in Haarlem, the Valkhof in Nijmegen, the New Church of Delft, and the Binnenhof in The Hague. You can now admire all of these characteristic places from different cities during a single tour in the Mauritshuis.

City marketing

The rise of the Dutch cities governed by powerful burghers sparked a revolution in the art of painting. The affluent citizenry preferred different subject matter than the aristocracy or the church. Painters proudly depicted their cities in a new genre of painting – the cityscape, a precursor to the current city marketing. In addition to Ruisdael’s celebrated ‘View of Haarlem’ you can also admire impressive works by other famous painters, such as the masterpiece of the museum’s permanent collection, Johannes Vermeer’s ‘View on Delft’.
This painting confirms that artists were not always very particular about painting a true to life picture and dreamed up ingenious ways to literally paint the best possible picture of their city. For this reason the most important buildings, such as churches and towers, were often depicted larger than they actually were. Vermeer made the strategic move of placing the main buildings of his hometown close to one another in the same painting.

The painters of cityscapes were active primarily in Amsterdam, Haarlem and Delft.

Internet: http://www.mauritshuis.nl/