Dutch and Flemish Paintings

On View: West Building, Main Floor

Filter Results

166 artworks on view.

Results

Shown from the waist up on the other side of a strawberry-red table, an elderly, pale-skinned woman sits facing us, sleeping with her head propped on her hand in this vertical painting. She is brightly lit from our upper left, which creates deep shadows across her face, and behind and around her. The woman rests her cheek against her closed left fist, to our right. That elbow is propped on a gold and amber-yellow cushion tucked into the corner where the table meets the wall to our right. Her brows are slightly furrowed over deep-set eyes. She has loose jowls, thin lips, and wrinkles line the corners of her eyes and her mouth. Almost lost in shadow, her other hand rests on the large book lying open before her. She wears a black coat draped over a parchment-white garment. Her hair is covered by a ginger-brown and black striped veil that hangs to her shoulders. Three iron-gray keys hang from a rail running across the wall next to her at head height. The wall is sage green and mustard yellow in the light, and the corners and left edge are swallowed in shadow. The artist signed the painting in capital letters on the right, just above the rail, “N. Maes.”

An Old Woman Dozing over a Book

Nicolaes Maes

c. 1655

Oil on canvas  Accession ID  1937.1.63

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M51
Download artwork
Shown from about the hips up, a man with peachy skin, wearing an ink-black hat and coat with a bright white collar, looks out at us against a dark background in this vertical portrait painting. He stands with his body angled to our right and his face turned to look at us with dark gray eyes. His slim face is framed in long, brown curls under his tall, brimmed hat, which is cocked a little to our right, away from us. He has a straight, prominent nose, lightly flushed cheeks, and a wispy, light brown mustache above a small, pointed goatee under his lower lip. His neck is encased in a broad, starched, white linen collar, its wings lying along his collarbones. His velvety black coat has a row of tightly spaced buttons down the front. A cummerbund or sash wraps around his waist and hips. He rests his right hand, on our left, against his hip near his lower back, palm facing out. He wears a light, dove-gray glove on his opposite hand, and holds a second glove in that hand. The background is earth brown. The portrait is painted loosely, with broader brushstrokes in some areas, such as the hand at his hip and in the folds of the black garments.

Adriaen van Ostade

Frans Hals

1646/1648

Oil on canvas  Accession ID  1937.1.70

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M46
Download artwork
We look across a dirt road or path at a tall, brick wall flanking an ornamented, stone gateway with a white, marble manor house in the distance in this horizontal landscape painting. Atop a low hill, the sunlit manor is outlined against a vivid, light blue sky with silvery-gray, fluffy clouds, which fills the top two-thirds of the composition. Statues line the gray, tiled roofline along the central section of the house, and more statues stand in the grassy lawn to either side. Closer to us, the gateway and people around it are cast into shadow. The arched gate is flanked by flat columns and is topped with a triangular pediment filled with relief sculpture of people and ornamental scrolls. A ramp leads up to the opening of the gate. Two men passing under the arch have long, brown hair and wear brimmed hats, long coats, breeches tied at the knee, and stockings. The man in front carries a walking stick. A woman wearing a white head covering and long, dark dress, carries a baby tied to her back and holds her hand out toward the men. Near the men, three brown dogs walk as one raises a leg against the gate, and a fourth sniffs at the side of the ramp where it meets the ground. The red brick wall is topped with a balustrade. To our left of the gate and on the far side of the wall, two men lean on the balustrade, angled in toward each other as if in conversation, near a fountain with a sculpted woman on an ornamental urn. Below them, at the foot of the brick wall, a man sits on a cracked piece of marble sculpted with ornamental designs in low relief. The man wears a royal-blue suit with golden yellow stockings and a tan, brimmed hat. He leans forward to touch the collar of a long-legged, slender dog while four other dogs stand, sit, and lie down nearby. To our right, the roofline of a large, red brick building is seen over the tops of a grove of trees on the far side of the wall. The painting style throughout is detailed and precise, so one could conceivably count the individual bricks in the wall, for instance.

An Architectural Fantasy

Jan van der Heyden

c. 1670

Oil on oak panel  Accession ID  1968.13.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M47
Download artwork
A young girl with light skin, round, rosy cheeks, and blond hair holds an apple and wears a full, ankle-length, silvery white dress with puffy sleeves in this vertical portrait painting. She stands with her body slightly angled to our left, and she turns her face to look at us with large, dark blue eyes under faint brows. Her wavy blond hair falls to her chin and glimmers where it catches the light. Her nose and cheeks are flushed, and her rose-red lips are closed. She holds a red and green apple with both hands at her waist. Her dress has a high neck and voluminous, puffy sleeves with lace at the cuffs. Her dress is covered by a smock down the front and an apron over the full skirt. The apron is edged with lace and seems to be smooth, which contrasts with the textured appearance of the skirt and sleeves. The rounded toes of her cream-white shoes poke out under the ankle-length hem of her dress. She stands on a platform or on a step, and a crimson-red cushion with gold trim and tassels rests on the floor behind her. To our left, a thick, square column rises from a tall base and reaches off the top edge of the composition. The background to our right is dark with shadow.

Maddalena Cattaneo

Sir Anthony van Dyck

1623

Oil on canvas  Accession ID  1942.9.94

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M42
Download artwork
Light pours over a woman floating in front of a bank of clouds, surrounded by ten mostly nude, toddler-like winged putti in this vertical painting. The woman, Mary, and the putti all have pale, peachy skin. Mary's body faces us with her knees bent so her feet are lost in the clouds. She holds both hands out by her sides, palms facing out. Her head is tipped slightly back and to our right, and she looks up with light brown eyes, her pink lips parted. Her golden hair falls loosely in waves to her shoulders. Her pale blue, long-sleeved, voluminous garment is tied with a navy-blue ribbon that crosses her chest between her breasts and is presumably tied across her back. The ten child-like putti have rounded bellies, chubby limbs, and small, gold or silver wings at their shoulder blades. Five putti hover around Mary to each side. To our left, one putto plays with the end of Mary's blue ribbon while below, another holds a wooden cross near the lower left corner of the canvas. The putto holding the cross rests one foot on an iron-gray ball encircled with a gold band and topped with a gold cross. Another putto touches the top of the wooden cross and gestures toward Mary. Near her shoulder, one putto holds a ring of thorns above its head while another raises a ring of pink roses as if to place it on Mary's head. To our right, near Mary's head, a putto holds a piece of cloth like a handkerchief toward her face while one below holds a larger drapery around its head like a hooded cloak as it looks out at us and smiles. The two bottom-most putti hold Mary's fluttering dress and look up at her face. A streak of warm light pours down from the top center, casting yellow light on the tops of the powder-blue clouds.

The Virgin as Intercessor

Sir Anthony van Dyck

1628/1629

Oil on canvas  Accession ID  1942.9.88

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M43
Download artwork
Shown from the shoulders up, a man and woman face our left in profile against a shadowy, dark green curtain in this vertical portrait painting. They both look steadily to our left, they and have pale skin and wear black. The man is closer to us so he overlaps the woman, whose profile is shifted to our left. A black cap sits on the man's curly, silver, shoulder-length hair. He has a slight double chin and soft jowls. A thin mustache curves over his upper lip, and a line of hair runs down his chin as a narrow beard. A broad, flat, white collar lies across his shoulders over a velvety black coat. He lifts his left hand, closer to us, in front of his chest with the fingers curled gently inward. The woman also has a double chin and soft jowls. Her thin lips are closed and downturned. Her hair is pulled back under a black covering, and her black garment has a sheen, suggesting satin.

Portrait of the Artist's Parents, Salomon de Bray and Anna Westerbaen

Jan de Bray

1664

Oil on panel  Accession ID  2001.86.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M46
Download artwork
Shown from the chest up, a light-skinned man with a wrinkled face and a silvery gray beard and hair gazes into the distance in this oval portrait painting. His chest is angled to our right but he turns his head to look off over his other shoulder, to our left. His slate-blue eyes are a little sunken and lined with wrinkles. Shading marks the hollows of the temple and cheek we can see. His thin lips are closed and framed by his curly mustache and beard. A dark, mahogany-brown cap is pushed back on his head, and his brown jacket has gold-colored buttons down the front. The collar of a cream-colored shirt shows through at the neckline. The background is dark olive green. The artist signed the work near the man’s shoulder, to our right: “GDOV.”

Bust of a Bearded Man

Gerrit Dou

c. 1642/1645

Oil on panel  Accession ID  2014.136.32

Not on view
Download artwork
A pale-skinned, bearded man sits at a table set in front of a window and smokes a pipe in this vertical painting. Light pours in from the window and leaves much of the room behind the man in deep shadow. The man’s body is angled to our left, and he rests his right elbow, also to our left, on the table and looks steadily at us. The man has a round face with rosy cheeks and a copper-red beard. His dark, gold-edged hat rolls back away from his face, creating an upward flounce. His cream-white, lace-edged collar lies across his shoulders over a gorget, the piece of silver armor that encircles the neck and comes to a point over the chest. His plum-purple sleeveless jacket and loose, knee-length britches have a sheen. Voluminous white sleeves are covered with strips of black and golden yellow fabric, and yellow fabric flares like a mini cape behind the sleeve we see. The man wears a tawny-brown glove on his left hand, to our right. That hand rests on his hip with the palm facing out. He holds the long, white clay pipe to his lips with his other ungloved hand. A wisp of smoke rises from a burning ember at the end of the pipe. The man’s pants are edged with gold around the bottom hem, which fall loosely around teal-green stockings. His slouchy black boots have square toes, and the tops fall down to reveal crimson-red undersides. A brass band wraps across the arch of the foot closer to us, and a star-shaped spur projects off the back. The man sits on a three-legged stool with a triangular seat. More armor, a horn, and a banner with fringed edges lie in a heap in the bottom right corner of the painting. To the left, a playing card, a seven of hearts, lies face up near a second chair, this one wood with a seat upholstered in iron gray. A forest-green cloak edged with gold fringe is draped over the high back of that seat, and a staff with a metal finial leans against the cloak. The seat and stool face a table mostly covered with a sage-green cloth. More playing cards, three more white clay pipes, a tall glass of beer, a clay pot, and a white jug with a narrow silver lid sit on the table. A sack and perhaps a firearm hang on the wall to the left of the arched window, which is set in the thick gray wall. The floor is wood plank, and the space behind the man falls into shadow but appears to be empty. The artist signed the painting as if he had inscribed his name on the side of the chair with the cloak: “FvMieris.”

A Soldier Smoking a Pipe

Frans van Mieris

c. 1657/1658

Oil on panel  Accession ID  2016.10.1

Not on view
Download artwork
A seated woman with an infant on her lap and three children are clustered on a terrace overlooking green hills and a body of water in this square painting. They all have pale skin with flushed cheeks. The group is centered in the composition, and the woman sits to our left, facing our right, almost in profile. The wooden chair is upholstered in scarlet-red fabric and a large slate-blue bird perches on the backrest. Gold-edged, red drapery hangs behind the woman, suspended from stone columns on either side of her. The woman’s brown hair is covered by a frilly, silvery-gray cap with a matching shawl layered over a short, three-quarter sleeve jacket. Her fern-green skirt, covered with a pattern of coral-red flowers and gold vines, gleams in the soft light coming from behind us. A thin black band encircles her neck, and a round, black earring dangles from the ear we can see. She bows her head slightly and gazes down at the children. The infant lies across her lap with its head coming toward us, its chubby arms reaching up to the woman while turning to look at the three standing children. They appear to be a young boy and two girls, and they all have blond hair, large brown eyes, and delicate rose-red mouths. They crowd together at the woman’s knees. The boy is taller than the girls and stands behind them, visible from the shoulders up. He is dressed in red garments and stands almost in profile to gaze up at the woman. The girls turn their heads to look directly at us. At the center of the trio, the taller girl wears a long, voluminous brown gown. Her hair is pulled back and long ringlets frame her face. She also wears round black earrings and two delicate black cords around her neck, one of which holds a gold ring. At the front, the shortest girl wears a black and white gown with a sheer neckerchief along neckline, and she rests one arm across the woman’s lap. The girl’s long, puffy, black sleeves are slashed to create openings for white fabric to show through. Her hair is also upswept with ringlets framing her face. To the right of the group is a column made of two creatures with pink female heads, faces, and nude torsos with scaly, olive-green, twisting, snake-like legs. One creature faces us and the other faces our right. The sky beyond the terrace is filled with clouds that transition from slate gray at the top to tan and rust orange where it meets the distant hills.

Deborah Kip, Wife of Sir Balthasar Gerbier, and Her Children

Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Jacob Jordaens

1629/1630, reworked probably mid 1640s

Oil on canvas  Accession ID  1971.18.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M43
Download artwork
We look slightly down onto a panorama with dozens of pale-skinned men, women, and children skating and standing on a frozen river in this horizontal landscape painting. Most of the men wear black hats and suits, some with white collars and hip-length capes. The women all wear ankle- or floor-length skirts, and some are covered with black cloaks that drape over their heads to their feet. Many people wear black but some of the clothing is scarlet red, sage green, celestial blue, beige, or slate gray. A few people draw the eye, like the man standing with his back to us, wearing dark gray and holding a tall pole in the lower left corner. To the right, a man kneels to tie a skate with a brown and black dog nearby. A woman wearing a crimson-red skirt and a couple clad entirely in fur-lined black clothing look toward a man and woman riding a horse-drawn sled on the ice, at the lower center of the painting. Another black-draped form in the sleigh could be a second woman wearing a cloak. A pair of boys play a game like hockey in the lower right corner. People gather and skate in pairs and small groups, or ride in sledges into the deep distance. The buildings and boats lining the horizon, which comes about halfway up the composition, are painted in shimmering grays. The sky above is the same cool white as the ice below. A few birds fly across the scene.

A Scene on the Ice

Hendrick Avercamp

c. 1625

Oil on panel  Accession ID  1967.3.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M44
Download artwork
A nearly nude, muscular man with pale, peachy skin sits in an underground cave among seven male and two female lions in this horizontal painting. The man sits to our right of center with his legs crossed, elbows close to his body with hands clasped by his chest. His head tips back to look up through a small opening above. He has long, wavy, chestnut-brown hair and dark eyes. A white cloth wraps across his hips, and he sits on a scarlet-red swath of fabric draped up over a rock next to him. The nine lions stalk, sit, or lie down around the man. One male lion next to the man, to our left, opens his mouth with his head thrown back, curling tongue extended beyond long fangs. A human skull and other bones are strewn on the dirt ground close to us. The rocky cave curves up around the animals and man to a narrow, round opening showing blue sky above.

Daniel in the Lions' Den

Sir Peter Paul Rubens

c. 1614/1616

Oil on canvas  Accession ID  1965.13.1

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M45
Download artwork
Dozens of people stand, skate, play a game like hockey, or ride horse-drawn sleds on a frozen river that winds along a town to our left and into the distance in this nearly square landscape painting. The horizon comes about a quarter of the way up the composition, and the sky above is filled with ivory-white clouds billowing up against a pale blue sky. Some of the men wear tall hats, hip-length capes over jackets, and breeches over stockings, while others are more simply dressed with rounded hats. Several of the women wear wide, pleated, plate-like neck ruffs, fur muffs, and long dresses, while others wear aprons over peanut-brown and muted blue dresses. The scene is alive with activity, including a man looking at us as he balances rakishly on one skate near the lower right corner, and a young girl sitting in a sled and pushing herself along with sticks nearby. The trees lining the snow-covered, riverside path are bare and the village to our left is painted in tones of pale tan and white. In the distance the snowy earth blends into the soft blue sky and fluffy clouds above. The artist signed the work as if he had painted his name and the date on the face of a wooden fence in the lower left corner: “AV DN 1645.”

Winter in Holland: Skating Scene

Aert van der Neer

1645

Oil on panel  Accession ID  2014.136.37

On View: West Building Main Floor, Gallery M49
Download artwork

Loading Results