A Dutch Courtyard

1658/1660

Pieter de Hooch

Artist, Dutch, 1629 - 1684

A woman stands drinking from a tall glass as two men sit at a table in a courtyard enclosed by wood paneling and brick buildings in this vertical painting. The people all have pale, peachy skin. The men, table, and woman take up the lower left quadrant of the composition. Both men wear broad-brimmed, black hats. The man closer to us, on our side of the table, faces our right in profile and holds a long white, clay pipe to his lips. He wears an ink-black jacket and tan leggings. A white stocking hangs down in a wide cuff from his knee on the leg we can see. A dove-gray cape is draped across his lap and a brown coat with gold-colored buttons is slung over a railing behind his back. Across the table, a bearded man wears a shining armor breastplate over a brown shirt. He looks up at the woman and smiles, holding a blue and white tankard with the lid flipped open in one hand. Another pipe and piece of paper sit on the narrow table between the men. The woman stands to one side of the table, facing our left in profile and the toe of her shoe touching or nearly brushing the black shoe of the man closer to us. Her brown hair is covered by a white cap, and she wears a tan-colored jacket, a long, crimson-red skirt, and an ultramarine-blue apron. Across the courtyard, in the lower right corner of the painting, a young girl also wears a white cap and blue apron but with a slate-gray shirt and laurel-green skirt. She approaches the table. A glowing ember is visible inside the ceramic brown dish she holds in both hands. The slightly uneven floor is paved with long, pale yellow bricks. A building rises to our right, a red shutter opening out from a window on the ground level. The other, closed shutter is painted with triangles of black, white, and gray. A half-wall of red brick across from us surrounds an open door, through which are stairs and a tree trunk. More trees rise above the top of that wall. Horizontal paneling encloses the courtyard to our left, behind the men. A church steeple in the distance is silhouetted against the sky over the paneling. A few wispy white clouds float across the vivid blue sky above.

Media Options

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Pieter de Hooch worked in the small and relatively quiet city of Delft from 1652 to about 1660. Like other Delft artists, most notably Carel Fabritius and Johannes Vermeer, De Hooch painted everyday scenes that are remarkable for their clarity of perspective and harmony of light. He gave order to his compositions by emphasizing the geometry of architectural elements. The positioning of doors, windows and their shutters, floor tiles, and bricks was all carefully calculated and painted.

Women going about their daily chores or attending to visitors, such as the soldiers seen here sitting around a table smoking and drinking, are a frequent theme in De Hooch’s work. The man wearing a breastplate is setting down the pitcher he has used to refill the "pass-glass" held by the woman. The pass-glass was used in drinking games. Each participant had to drink down to a circular line on the glass; failing to reach the exact level, the reveler would be required to drink down to the next ring. Only when this was done successfully would the glass be passed on to the next participant. The little girl carries a brazier of hot coals so that the two soldiers can light their long-stemmed, white clay pipes. Despite its apparent realism, and the presence of the tower of the Nieuwe Kerk in the background, the scene probably does not depict a specific courtyard.

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 50

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Andrew W. Mellon Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 69.5 x 60 cm (27 3/8 x 23 5/8 in.)
    framed: 92.7 x 83.8 x 12.1 cm (36 1/2 x 33 x 4 3/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1937.1.56

More About this Artwork

Scholarly Article:  Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century: A Dutch Courtyard, 1658/1660

This horizontal painting shows a group of eight light-skinned musicians and onlookers gathered closely around a rectangular, carpet-covered table. The front edge of the table runs parallel to the bottom edge of the painting, and seems close to us. Shown from about the waist up, the men and women’s vivid lapis-blue, coral-red, buttercup-yellow, lilac-purple, and moss-green garments fall in crisp folds. Bright reflections on the fabric suggest a satin-like material. Two women wear feathers in their hair and one man’s hat is plumed. One man, wearing crimson red and black, sits with his back to us to our left on the near side of the table. He holds the neck of a bass viol, about the size of a cello, with his left hand, and points to pages of an open music book with the bow in his right hand. The other people cluster on the far side of the table. A man to the left plays a violin; a woman at the center plays a guitar-sized bandora, and a woman to our right plays a lute. The musicians, along with a man who leans over the table from between the two women, look down at the music books. A young man behind the woman at the center holds up a glass of pale liquid with his right hand as he touches his left forefinger to his smiling lips. A man and woman stand close together in the background to our right, in the top right corner of the canvas.

Scholarly Series:  Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Cornelis Sebille Roos [1754-1820], Amsterdam; (his sale, R.W.P. de Vries, Amsterdam, 28 August 1820, no. 51); Isaac van Eyck.[1] (sale, Paris); purchased by a Mr. Mason; purchased by Baron Lionel de Rothschild [1808-1879], Gunnersbury Park, Greater London, by 1842; by inheritance to his son, Nathan Mayer Rothschild, 1st baron Rothschild [1840-1915]; by exchange with or sale to his brother, Baron Alfred Charles de Rothschild [1842-1918], London and Halton House, near Wendover, Buckinghamshire;[2] bequeathed to his illegitimate daughter, Almina Victoria, Countess of Carnarvon [c. 1877-1969, later Mrs. Ian Onslow Dennistoun], London; sold 1924 to (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris);[3] sold November 1924 to Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; deeded 28 December 1934 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1937 to NGA.
[1] John Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters, 9 vols. London, 1829-1842: 9(1842):573, no. 30.
[2] The Rothschild provenance information was kindly provided by Michael Hall, curator to Edmund de Rothschild; see his "Rothschild Picture Provenances" from 1999 and his letter of 27 February 2002, in NGA curatorial files, in which he cites documents in The Rothschild Archive, London.
[3] Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: reel 292, box 437, folders 4 and 5, and reel 293, box 438, folders 1 and 2; copies in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1939

  • Masterworks of Five Centuries, Golden Gate International Exposition, San Francisco, 1939, no. 81a, repro.

1998

  • Pieter de Hooch, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, 1998-1999, no. 19, repro., as Two Soldiers and a Woman Drinking in a Courtyard.

1999

  • Johannes Vermeer: The Art of Painting, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1999-2000, not in brochure.

2001

  • Vermeer and the Delft School, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The National Gallery, London, 2001, no. 33, repro.

2007

  • Vermeer: La ragazza alla spinetta e i pittori di Delft, Foro Boario, Modena, 2007, no. 10, repro.

2015

  • The New American Garden: the Landscape Architecture of Oehme, Van Sweden & Associates, National Building Museum, Washington, 2015-2016, not in gallery guide (travelling exhibition of photographs; painting shown only in Washington).

2016

  • Building the Brafferton: The Founding, Funding and Legacy of America's Indian School, Muscarelle Museum of Art, Williamsburg, 2016-2017, no catalogue.

2019

  • Pieter de Hooch in Delft. From the Shadow of Vermeer, Museum Prinsenhof, Delft, 2019-2020, no. 14a, repro.

Bibliography

1829

  • Smith, John. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters. 9 vols. London, 1829-1842: 9(1842):573, no. 30.

1854

  • Waagen, Gustav Friedrich. Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being an Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss.. 3 vols. Translated by Elizabeth Rigby Eastlake. London, 1854: 2:130.

1879

  • Havard, Henry. L'art et les artistes hollandais. 4 vols. Paris, 1879-1881: 3:128.

1884

  • Davis, Charles. A Description of the Works of Art Forming the Collection of Alfred de Rothschild. 2 vols. London, 1884: 1:no. 15, repro.

1907

  • Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century. 8 vols. Translated by Edward G. Hawke. London, 1907-1927: 1(1907):559, no. 295.

  • Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts. 10 vols. Esslingen and Paris, 1907-1928: 1(1907):558, no. 295.

1914

  • Rudder, Arthur de. Pieter de Hooch et son oeuvre. Collection des grands artistes des Pays-Bas. Brussels and Paris, 1914: 61, 65.

1925

  • Collins Baker, Charles Henry. Pieter de Hooch. Masters of Painting. London, 1925: 6-7.

1926

  • Valentiner, Wilhelm R. "Pieter de Hooch, Part I." Art in America 15, no. 1 (December 1926): 47, 53 fig. 4, 58, 61.

1927

  • Brière-Misme, Clotilde. "Tableaux inédits ou peu connus de Pieter de Hooch, Part II." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 69, no. 16 (July-August 1927): repro. 61, 63.

  • Brière-Misme, Clotilde. "Tableaux inédits ou peu connus de Pieter de Hooch, Part III." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 69, no. 16 (November 1927): 286 errata (corrects reference to the Mellon painting in Part II, July-August 1927).

  • Valentiner, Wilhelm R. "Pieter de Hooch, Part II." _Art in America _ 15, no. 2 (February 1927): 76, no. 10.

1929

  • Valentiner, Wilhelm R. "Pieter de Hooch: des meisters gemälde in 180 abbildungen mit einem anhang über di genremaler um Pieter de Hooch und die kunst Hendrik van der Burchs." Klassiker der Kunst in Gesamtausgaben 35 (1929): xiv, xv, repro. 44 (also 1930 English ed., translated by Alice M. Sharkey and E. Schwandt, London and New York).

1930

  • Valentiner, Wilhelm R. Pieter de Hooch: The Master’s Paintings. Translated by Alice M. Sharkey and E. Schwandt. London and New York, 1930: xiv, xv, 44, repro.

1937

  • Jewell, Edward Alden. "Mellon's Gift." Magazine of Art 30, no. 2 (February 1937): 82.

1939

  • Golden Gate International Exposition. Masterworks of Five Centuries. Exh. cat. Golden Gate International Exposition, San Francisco, 1939: no. 81a, repro.

  • McCall, George Henry. Masterpieces of art: Catalogue of European paintings and sculpture from 1300-1800. Edited by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Exh. cat. New York World's Fair, New York, 1939: 97, no. 201.

1941

  • Duveen Brothers. Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America. New York, 1941: no. 210, repro.

  • Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 99-100, no. 56.

1942

  • National Gallery of Art. Book of illustrations. 2nd ed. Washington, 1942: 56, repro. 27, 240.

1944

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Masterpieces of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. Translated. New York, 1944: 106, color repro.

1949

  • National Gallery of Art. Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 92, repro.

1956

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1956: 44, repro.

1957

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. London, 1957: pl. 112.

1960

  • Baird, Thomas P. Dutch Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art 7. Washington, 1960: 34, color repro.

  • The National Gallery of Art and Its Collections. Foreword by Perry B. Cott and notes by Otto Stelzer. National Gallery of Art, Washington (undated, 1960s): 20.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 192, repro.

1965

  • National Gallery of Art. Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. Washington, 1965: 69.

1966

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 1: 240, color repro.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 61, repro.

1973

  • Sonnenburg, Hubertus von. "Technical Comments." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 31, no. 4 (Summer 1973): unpaginated, fig. 84 (detail).

1975

  • National Gallery of Art. European paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. Washington, 1975: 178, repro.

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 288, no. 384, color repro.

1980

  • Sutton, Peter C. Pieter de Hooch: Complete Edition with a Catalogue Raisonné. Oxford, 1980: 85, no. 35a.

1981

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Jan Vermeer. New York, 1981: 22, fig. 16.

1984

  • Sutton, Peter C. Masters of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Genre Painting. Edited by Jane Iandola Watkins. Exh. cat. Philadelphia Museum of Art; Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin; Royal Academy of Arts, London. Philadelphia, 1984: 219.

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 288, no. 378, color repro.

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Dutch Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1984: 28-29, repro.

1985

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. Washington, 1985: 205, repro.

  • Rumsey, Thomas R. Men and women in revolution and war, 1600-1815. Wellesley Hills, 1985: 53.

1988

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Jan Vermeer. Masters of Art. 2nd rev. ed. New York, 1988: 20, fig. 16.

  • Clark, Henry Nichols Blake. Francis W. Edmonds: American Master in the Dutch Tradition. Exh. cat. Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth; New-York Historical Society. Washington, D.C., 1988: 70, 71 fig. 40.

1992

  • National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1992: 132, repro.

1995

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1995: 139-142, color repro. 141.

  • Fiero, Gloria K. The Age of the Baroque and the European Enlightenment. The Humanistic Tradition 4. 2nd ed. [7th ed. 2015] Madison, 1995: 45-46, fig. 22.5.

1996

  • Kersten, Michiel C.C., and Daniëlle H.A.C. Lokin. Delft masters, Vermeer's contemporaries: illusionism through the conquest of light and space. Exh. cat. Stedelijk Museum Het Prinsenhof, Delft. Zwolle, 1996: 112, fig. 97.

1997

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Vermeer: The Complete Works. New York, 1997: 6, fig. 9.

1998

  • Fiero, Gloria K. Faith, Reason and Power in the Early Modern World. The Humanistic Tradition 4. 3rd ed. New York, 1998: frontispiece, repro.

  • Sutton, Peter C. Pieter de Hooch, 1629-1684. Exh. cat. Dulwich Picture Gallery, London; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford. New Haven, 1998: 126-127, no. 19, repro.

1999

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. "Exhibition review: Pieter de Hooch. Dulwich and Hartford." The Burlington Magazine 141, no. 1151 (February 1999): fig. 68.

2000

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. The Public and the Private in the Age of Vermeer. Exh. cat. Osaka Municipal Museum of Art. London, 2000: 18, fig. 12.

  • Kunzle, David. "The Soldier Redeemed: Art and Reality in a Dutch Province at War 1650-1672: Gerard Ter Borch in Deventer." Marburger Jahrbuch für Kunstwissenschaft 27 (2000): 293-294, repro.

2001

  • Southgate, M. Therese. The Art of JAMA II: Covers and Essays from The Journal of the American Medical Association. Chicago, 2001: 62-63, color repro.

  • Liedtke, Walter A., Michiel Plomp, and Axel Rüger. Vermeer and the Delft school. Exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; National Gallery, London. New Haven, 2001: no. 33, 288-230.

2002

  • Kunzle, David. From criminal to courtier: the soldier in Netherlandish art 1550-1672. History of warfare. Leiden, 2002: 10: 617, fig. 17.18.

2003

  • Waagen, Gustav Friedrich. Treasures of Art in Great Britain. Translated by Elizabeth Rigby Eastlake. Facsimile edition of London 1854. London, 2003: 2:130.

2007

  • Meijer, Bert W. Vermeer: la ragazza alla spinetta e i pittori di Delft. Exh. cat. Foro Boario, Modena. Florence, 2007: 124-125, no. 10, repro.

Wikidata ID

Q19939031

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