I would like to give you a little insight into the country that is properly called the Netherlands. This country is about half the size of the Czech Republic and has almost half the population. It is one of the richest countries in the world and, globally speaking, ranks among the top 20 economies. The Netherlands' economy is mainly based on its industry, trade and transport. The most important extractive industries are minerals and natural gas production (the Netherlands is sixth in the world in natural gas production). Agriculture also plays a role. When you visit this country, you get the feeling that everything is on the edge of miniature size. The capital, The Hague, is as interesting and slightly mysterious as the other cities of the Netherlands.
The Dutch themselves boast, among other things, a glorious tradition of painting; not only are their painters among the most famous Dutch, but some Dutch painters are among the most famous painters in the world. This is especially true of five greats, Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Brueghel, Rembrandt van Rijn, Jan Vermeer and Vincent van Gogh. Thanks to these Masters, some of the most famous and most famous paintings in history were created in the Netherlands. Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights, Brueghel's Building the Tower of Babel, Rembrandt's Night Watch, Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl, van Gogh's Sunflowers and Starry Night. The Night Watch is on display at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, The Girl with the Pearl at the Mauritshuis Museum in The Hague.
Museum in the Moritz House
The Mauritshuis (Mořicův dům in Czech) is the picture gallery of the Dutch National Museum in The Hague, located at Korte Vijverberg 8 in a classical palace from 1640. The official name of the picture gallery is Koninklijk Kabinet van Schilderijen Mauritshuis (Czech: Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis House). In 1820 the building was bought by the Dutch state as the headquarters of the Royal Picture Gallery. The now world-famous picture gallery was opened in 1822 as the Royal Cabinet of Painting and the Royal Cabinet of Curiosities. In 1875 the entire museum was converted into a gallery. Its basis was a collection of about 200 paintings - the collection of the Governor William V., Prince of Orange, which was handed over to the Dutch state by his son King William I. Today, the collection contains over 800 paintings, including works by the most important Dutch and Flemish painters, especially from the 17th century (the golden age of Dutch painting), including Rembrandt, Vermeer, Jan Steen, Frans Hals, Carel Fabritius, Gerard ter Borch, Antoine van Dyck and Paul Potter. Works by Hans Holbein the Younger are also an important part of this national collection.
Mauritshuis was a state institution until 1995, when it was privatised. The foundation established at that time undertook to manage both the building (which is owned by the state, from which the museum leases it) and the collections, which are on long-term loan from the state. The museum regularly cooperates with museums and galleries in other countries and organises thematic short-term exhibitions. In 2007, the museum was visited by almost 250,000 visitors.
Conditions for the best
In the independent and economically prosperous Holland of the time, a new bourgeois lifestyle based on new values of life had already begun to develop by the end of the 16th century. Respect for one's homeland and hometown, love of family, home and property, as well as Protestant piety and morality are said to have been among the first. The Calvinist religion, which was based on a belief in predestination and saw economic prosperity as a sign of divine blessing, recognised the values of wealth and material things and encouraged their 'celebration' through painting. However, painting here was not at the service of the church or the courts of the monarchy or nobility, but of the all-powerful city-municipal organisations and was used to decorate bourgeois dwellings or city administrative institutions.
The Dutch painters soon took the interests of their fellow citizens into their own hands and, within the framework of consistent realism, created entirely new forms of painting under new conditions. Among other things, they isolated landscapes and still lifes, and recognised many other "everyday stories" from everyday life as subjects suitable for artistic treatment. Most of the painters specialized in a particular genre or even type of subject, in which they then achieved extraordinary perfection. But it is also clear that those who could satisfy the bourgeoisie and the nobility with their art were paid very, very dearly, as family portraits were a commercial and social brand. For us, they are a testimony to the past, a demonstration of the values held by the time and also an example of its atmosphere.
The Puritan Calvinists, for whom moderation and humility were the main precepts, avoided ostentatious dress and usually preferred simple (though expensive) black dresses with a ruffled white collar.
An extremely important type of portrait in Holland was the group portrait, in which the burgher could represent himself and other members of the group as representatives of an important organisation, which were mainly guilds (originally medieval guilds), various associations of academic professions or burgher militias - the so-called shooting guilds.
Dynamically changing sky
A person who is interested in art, in layman's terms, perceives different artistic movements at different times. As a child I was, of course, a believer in realism, and Dutch painters were one of the first to paint a realistic picture in such detail that you have the impression that you are looking at a photograph or even reality. It's really worth giving some time to this art and these painters and enjoying their mastery. The city of The Hague is an interesting place too, the people are friendly, the architecture interesting and cosily picturesque. And the landscape in the Netherlands? It certainly won't bore you, even though it's a mostly flat country. In fact, the sky in the Netherlands is so dynamically changing that you just can't help but like it.
Jan Vojtěch
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