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Cupboard
Herman Doomer, c. 1635 - c. 1645, furniture, BK-1975-81
Among the possessions left by cabinetmaker Herman Doomer of Amsterdam was a costly ‘large ebony cupboard inlaid with mother-of-pearl’. It was probably this piece of furniture, which is veneered entirely with ebony and decorated with mother-of-pearl inlay. With its diagonally protruding corners and…
On display in Gallery of Honour
Blue Macaw
Meissener Porzellan Manufaktur, 1731, BK-17496
German scientists discovered the ingredients of Chinese porcelain in the 18th century. Elector August the Strong was such a fan of this hard, translucent white material that he filled his Japanese Palace in Dresden with porcelain objects. In the 1730s, he had a series of large birds and animals…
On display in room 1.4
Clock and gunpowder horn
anonymous, c. 1590 - c. 1596, clockwork, NG-NM-7687
In 1596, Willem Barentsz, Jacob van Heemskerck and fifteen others spent the winter in an improvised shelter on the island of Nova Zembla off the north coast of Russia. Confined to their hut in the middle of the Polar winter, the men had no sense of night or day. A clock on the wall told the time,…
On display in room 2.9
Roemer with a poem to Constantijn…
anonymous, 1619, BK-1983-15
Anna Roemers Visscher engraved one of her own poems in a wineglass as a gift for Constantijn Huygens. The verse contains a complaint and an exhortation: her pen has dried up, her brain has rusted. She asks Huygens to fetch her some water from the Helicon – where the Muses live – so her ink will flow…
On display in room 2.8
Table ornament
Wenzel Jamnitzer, 1549, table piece, BK-17040-A
This receptacle stood on the table on special occasions. Although it was never used for food, since it was far too precious. It was made for the city of Nuremberg in 1549 by Wenzel Jamnitzer, then a world-famous silversmith. Jamnitzer produced incredibly intricate work using a new method. All the…
On display in room 2.3
Still Life with a Gilt Cup
Willem Claesz Heda, 1635, painting, SK-A-4830
In forty years, Willem Heda only ever painted still lifes. His paintings differ from the still lifes of his contemporaries: the colours are gentler, cooler and more harmonious. The bright yellow lemon peel is the only colour accent. In this work, Heda shows his skill in rendering different…
On display in Gallery of Honour
The Well-stocked Kitchen, with…
Joachim Bueckelaer, 1566, painting, SK-A-1451
It is not the profusion of vegetables, fruit, meat, poultry and kitchenware displayed here by these housemaids that forms the main theme of this painting. It is Jesus visiting Mary and Martha, shown almost as an aside in the distance. The contrast between foreground and background contains the moral…
A Windmill on a Polder Waterway,…
Paul Joseph Constantin Gabriël, c. 1889, painting, SK-A-1505
‘Our country is colourful, juicy, fat. (...) I repeat, our country is not dull, not even in dull weather, the dunes are not dull either’, Constant Gabriël wrote in a letter. Unlike many artists of the Hague School, he preferred painting fine summer days. Here there are two: the grass, sky and…
On display in room 1.18
Worship of the Golden Calf
Lucas van Leyden, c. 1530, painting, SK-A-3841
On display in room 0.6
Portrait of Don Ramón Satué
Francisco de Goya, 1823, painting, SK-A-2963
Goya was well-known as a court-painter and for his idiosyncratic prints. He had already turned 76 when he painted this powerful portrait. Don Ramón was a judge in the highest tribunal of Castile. The casual pose and open collar have an informality Goya usually reserves for the portraits of his most…
On display in room 1.13