The Girl with the Pearl Earring. Check.
The Anatomy Lesson. Check.
Got to see all three of these gems and many more Dutch Golden Age masterpieces at The Mauritshuis earlier this spring. It is easily now one of my favorite art museums in the world, housed in a seventeenth-century mansion in The Hague. I love, love, love small, intimate museums.
In case you've been living under a rock for the past couple of years, Donna Tart won the Pulitzer Prize last year for her novel centered around this very painting. I already had plans to see the painting, but after reading the book a visit to the real deal was a must. Regardless of one's opinion of the book (and they were polarized), it's hard not to be excited about the film adaptation.
Here it is, for real.
Tiny painting, huge inspiration.
It's just pretty darn cool to see this painting, "The Girl with the Pearl Earring," in such an intimate setting. I definitely did not have to stand sixteen rows deep in a throng of people à la the Mona Lisa at the Louvre.
I don't know what it is about those Dutch Masters, but this one, of course, also inspired a novel and a critically acclaimed movie:
Last but not least, Rembrandt's, "The Anatomy Lesson." I've waiting a long time to see this one. So much of my studies and my rooting around Amsterdam seem to uncover another tie-back to this painting, including lunch with my husband in the old weigh house at the top of which the "lesson" took place and Rembrandt watched and painted this:
It will come as no surprise, but here's a well-received modern novel inspired by the painting!
No comments:
Post a Comment