PRESS RELEASE

Dutch masterpieces from the Royal Collection to go on display, several for the first time in Scotland

Johannes Vermeer's Lady at the Virginals with a Gentleman and a painting with a recently revealed secret are among the highlights of a new exhibition from the Royal Collection opening tomorrow (Friday, 4 March) at The Queen's Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse. Six works in the exhibition are shown in Scotland for the first time.

Masters of the Everyday: Dutch Artists in the Age of Vermeer comprises 28 outstanding works by some of the finest artists of the 17th and 18th centuries, among them , and . Painted during the ‘Golden Age’, when the Netherlands was at the forefront of commerce, science and art, these pictures represent a high point in ‘genre painting’ – ordinary scenes of everyday life rendered in extraordinary detail. Renowned for their captivating depiction of space and light, Dutch artists of the period also included humorous or moralising messages in their work for the contemporary viewer to decode.

Four works by the great Leiden-born painter Jan Steen are on display for the first time in Scotland. Cardplayers in a Tavern, c.1664, was purchased by George IV, the most enthusiastic royal collector of Netherlandish art. Steen ran a brewery in between 1654 and 1657, and in this painting he shows drinkers playing cards while the landlord of the inn looks on. Steen's Interior of a Tavern with Card Players and a Violin Player, c.1665, Merrymaking in a Tavern with a Couple dancing, c.1670, and A Village Revel, 1673, explore the themes of drinking, music and love that are typical of genre painting of the Dutch 'Golden Age'.

Johannes Vermeer's Lady at the Virginals with a Gentleman, early 1660s, entered the Royal Collection in 1762, when George III purchased the collection of Consul Joseph Smith, patron and agent of the artist Canaletto. The meaning of this enigmatic composition – a woman with her back to the viewer and a man standing at her side – has been much debated. It has been suggested that the subject of the painting is music itself.

A hidden detail in A Village Fair with a Church behind, 1643, by Isack van Ostade was recently revealed by Royal Collection Trust conservators. Painstaking cleaning of the picture uncovered a squatting figure relieving himself in the foreground, hidden for more than 100 years under overpainted shrubbery. The work was acquired by George IV, when Prince of Wales, and hung in Carlton House, his London residence on Pall Mall. It is believed that the offending figure was painted over in 1903, when the work, which by then hung in the Picture Gallery at Buckingham Palace, was sent for treatment by an art restorer. The modification perhaps made the composition more acceptable to an Edwardian audience.

Gerrit Dou's The Young Mother, 1658, has been loaned from the in , where over 21 works from the exhibition will be shown in September 2016. Exhibited in Scotland for the first time, it was given to Charles II in 1660 and became part of the British

Press Office, Royal Collection Trust, York House, St James’s Palace, London SW1A 1BQ T. +44 (0)20 7839 1377, [email protected], www.royalcollection.org.uk

Royal Collection. When Stadholder William III of Orange inherited the Collection in 1688 on becoming King of England, Ireland and Scotland, he sent the painting to decorate his new hunting lodge 'Het Loo' near Apeldoorn in Holland. The picture remained at Het Loo after William's death and was described by his executors as 'the finest known'.

Last displayed in Scotland almost 70 years ago, Pieter de Hooch's Card Players in a sunlit Room, 1658, is an outstanding example of the artist's skilful use of . It depicts a view through the door of a tavern into the street beyond, the geometric floor tiles creating the illusion of space. It has been suggested that the fashionable young men drinking, smoking and playing cards represent idleness. However, as the group includes a woman and cards from the suit of hearts lie on the table and floor, the pastime could be a metaphor for the game of love.

Desmond Shawe-Taylor, Surveyor of The Queen's Pictures and curator of the exhibition, said, 'Following the extremely well-received showing at The Queen's Gallery in London, we are delighted to bring the exhibition to Edinburgh and several of these outstanding paintings to Scotland for the first time.' Ends

Masters of the Everyday: Dutch Artists in the Age of Vermeer is at The Queen’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse, 4 March – 24 July 2016.

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The accompanying catalogue Masters of the Everyday: Dutch Artists in the Age of Vermeer by Desmond Shawe-Taylor, Surveyor of The Queen's Pictures, Royal Collection Trust, and Quentin Buvelot, Senior Curator at the Mauritshuis, is published by Royal Collection Trust, price £29.95.

Visitor information and tickets: www.royalcollection.org.uk, T. +44 (0)30 3123 7306.

A selection of images is available from www.picselect.com. For further information and photographs, please contact the Royal Collection Trust Press Office, +44 (0)20 7839 1377, [email protected].

Notes to Editors

Royal Collection Trust, a department of the Royal Household, is responsible for the care of the Royal Collection and manages the public opening of the official residences of The Queen. Income generated from admissions and from associated commercial activities contributes directly to The Royal Collection Trust, a registered charity. The aims of The Trust are the care and conservation of the Royal Collection, and the promotion of access and enjoyment through exhibitions, publications, loans and educational programmes. Royal Collection Trust’s work is undertaken without public funding of any kind.

Press Office, Royal Collection Trust, York House, St James’s Palace, London SW1A 1BQ T. +44 (0)20 7839 1377, [email protected], www.royalcollection.org.uk

The Royal Collection is among the largest and most important art collections in the world, and one of the last great European royal collections to remain intact. It comprises almost all aspects of the fine and decorative arts, and is spread among some 13 royal residences and former residences across the UK, most of which are regularly open to the public. The Royal Collection is held in trust by the Sovereign for her successors and the nation, and is not owned by The Queen as a private individual.

The Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis is home to the very best of Dutch Golden Age painting. The compact, yet world-renowned collection, is situated in the heart of The Hague, right next to the government centre. Masterpieces such as Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp by , by Fabritius and The Bull by Potter are on permanent display in the intimate rooms of this seventeenth-century monument.

More than two hundred top works from Dutch and Flemish masters are on display in the historic yet intimate interior, with its silken wall covering, sparkling chandeliers and monumental painted ceilings. Genre paintings by Jan Steen, landscapes by Jacob van Ruisdael, still lifes by Adriaen Coorte and portraits by Rubens offer a rich and varied representation of the best of seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish painting.

Admission to The Queen’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse is managed by The Royal Collection Trust, a registered charity in England and Wales (1016972) and in Scotland (SCO39772).

Press Office, Royal Collection Trust, York House, St James’s Palace, London SW1A 1BQ T. +44 (0)20 7839 1377, [email protected], www.royalcollection.org.uk