The Vijver Lake.—But while we have been talking of the past history of the Mauritshuis and its treasures, we have failed to notice the Vijver, a pretty lake bordered with trees and dotted with islands, the haunt of swans and other waterfowl—descendants, perhaps, of Hondecoeter's and Weenix's models—that float upon its glassy surface, and cut through those quiet reflections of the long line of picturesque buildings, including the Mauritshuis. The long quay on the other side is the favorite and fashionable promenade of The Hague. We must note the Vijver, because it has been an attractive subject for Dutch painters of all periods; and the traveller will frequently see representations of it. One of the most recent is Klinkenberg's View of the Vijver at The Hague, which was presented to Boijman's Museum in 1876, by the Rotterdam Society for Promoting Art. The Mauritshuis is represented on the right. And now, having looked at this building from across the Vijver, we will pass to the entrance.
Paucity of Foreign Pictures in Dutch Galleries.—The Dutch galleries differ from many other great European galleries, such as the National Gallery, the Louvre, the Hermitage, and the big German galleries, by being devoted almost exclusively to works of the Dutch and Flemish masters. Pictures of foreign schools are insignificant in number and of very slight importance. The foreign pictures in the Mauritshuis can be dismissed in a few words.
Italian Pictures in the Mauritshuis.—The Italian pictures include:
Holy Family, by Fra Bartolommeo; Holy Family, by P. Berettini; Christ Blessing, by P. Bordone; Adoration of Magi, by C. Caliari; Virgin and Child, and Birth of Virgin, by L. Cambiaso; Temptation of Adam and Eve, by C. Cignani; Virgin, Child, and Saints, by M. Fogolino; Massacre of Innocents, by L. Mazzolini; Holy Family, by F. Santafede; Madonna, by G. B. Sassoferrato; Annunciation, by F. Solimena; Holy Family, and two Portraits, by Titian; Venus, Mistress of the World, by A. Turchi; an Italian Landscape, by F. Zuccherelli; Cupid (poor copy), by Guido Reni; Venus and Cupid (copy), by Raphael; two Male Portraits, by Piero de Cosimo; Female Portrait, by G. Palma; Female Portrait, by A. Allori; Landscape, by F. Lauri; two Landscapes with Pilgrims, Monks in a Grotto and Capuchins in a Grotto, by A. Magnasco; two Ruins, by L. Carlevaris; and Prometheus and Sisyphus, by L. Giordano.
Of unknown Italian artists of the sixteenth century, the subjects are:
God the Father and Holy Spirit, Landscape with Mary Magdalen, Landscape with St. Paul and the Hermit, Death of Abel, Venus, Dalilah, St. John the Evangelist, Ecce Homo, Martyrdom of St. Sebastian, and The Musicians.
Other Foreign Pictures in the Mauritshuis.—France is represented only by a portrait by J. A. Aved, A Group of Merchants by S. Bourdon, and two ideal landscapes by C. Vernet. The Spanish school is represented by a portrait by Velasquez, a Virgin and Child by Murillo, a Magdalen by M. Cereso, and a landscape and a portrait by unknown artists. The German artists are scarcely more numerous. There are two portraits by Holbein and three others of his school, three portraits by B. Beham, an Italian landscape by J. H. Roos, three portraits by J. F. A. Tischbein, and four Biblical and one mythological pictures by H. Rottenhamer. The subjects of these are: The Meeting of David and Abigail, St. Philip Baptizing the Eunuch, The Rest in Egypt, Christ Delivering Souls from Purgatory, and The Fall of Phaeton. The meagre list of foreign works also includes two portraits by the Danish artist, J. G. Ziesenis.
Strength and Weakness of the Gallery.—The strength of The Hague Gallery lies mainly in its portraits, either single or in groups. Of these there are considerably more than a hundred; of genre pictures there are about seventy, and of landscape more than sixty. There are nearly fifty Biblical and religious subjects, and more than thirty taken from pagan mythology. The Gallery is weak in historical pictures, of which there are only seventeen. Only seven canvases represent the great marine painters; and the pictures of birds, flowers and fruits, and still life are comparatively few.
The student naturally turns first to the great pictures that have a world-wide reputation. The two most famous are undoubtedly Paul Potter's Bull and Rembrandt's Lesson in Anatomy.