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River Landscape with Riders
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
The Massacre of the Innocents
Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem, 1590, painting, SK-A-128
On display in room 2.1
Still Life with Cheese
Floris Claesz van Dijck, c. 1615, painting, SK-A-4821
Food is arranged here on a costly damask tablecloth: fruit, bread, cheese. In the 17th century, this kind of painting was known as a ‘breakfast’. Vivid colours contrast with each other. Each item is carefully placed. And by viewing the table from a high angle, Van Dijck ensured that no object was…
On display in Gallery of Honour
The Seven Works of Mercy
Master of Alkmaar, 1504, painting, SK-A-2815
A town in Holland is the setting for a narrative strip showing how a good Christian should help the needy. In almost all the scenes, Christ appears among the onlookers. The scenes give a sense of town life around 1500. This is one of the many art works severely damaged when Protestants cleansed…
On display in room 0.4
Self-portrait
Vincent van Gogh, 1887, painting, SK-A-3262
After he heard his brother Theo describe the new colourful style of French art, Vincent decided in 1886 to move to Paris. He soon began experimenting with the new idiom in a series of self portraits. This was mainly to spare the expense of using models. Here he painted himself as a debonnaire…
Portrait of William I, Prince of…
Adriaen Thomasz. Key, c. 1579, painting, SK-A-3148
Of all the nobles in the Low Countries to join the revolt against the Spanish crown, the foremost was William of Orange (1533-1584). Raised at the court of Charles V, he was a consummate diplomat: hence his nickname, the Silent. He emerged as the leader of the insurrection against Spain. In 1580,…
On display in room 2.1
The Sick Child
Gabriël Metsu, c. 1664 - c. 1666, painting, SK-A-3059
A worried mother looks at her young daughter, slumped listlessly on her lap. Metsu chose an unusual subject, since depictions of poorly children are rare in 17th-century art. Perhaps he intended the mother to personify charity, Caritas. Then the picture of the Crucifixion on the wall would be a…
On display in room 2.25
Portrait of a Member of the Van der…
Cornelis Troost, 1736, painting, SK-A-3948
The portrait conveys a sense of convivial hospitality, as if the man were inviting us into his home to enjoy his art and music. In a typically 18th-century way, the portrait has no sense of distance, of authority. It introduces us directly to the open personality of this enthusiastic young member of…
On display in room 1.1
Giuliano & Francesco Giamberti da…
Piero di Cosimo, 1482 - 1485, painting, SK-C-1368
This diptych shows a leading Florentine architect, Giuliano da Sangallo with his late father Francesco, also an architect and a musician. These are early examples of portraits in which the subject’s profession plays a key role. Here a pen and dividers suggest architecture, a melody in note form…
On display in room 0.5