Having traveled to the Netherlands several times without traveling beyond Amsterdam, my hope of seeing the two aforementioned cities began to wane until Thanksgiving weekend. The long weekend presented itself as the perfect opportunity for an easy overnight visit to both Den Haag and Delft.
Traveling first to Den Haag, we walked through town and immediately set out to Mauritshuis, an art museum that houses Vermeer's iconic 'Girl With a Pearl Earring.' Along the way, we passed through a courtyard that housed a fountain in front of which Littlest wanted to have her picture taken. Being in such close proximity to the sea, we were often overcome by chilling winds and light rain.
Streets of Den Haag
Canal front on which the Mauritshuis was situated
Mauritshuis. The museum was rather small and intimate. In fact, no railings or artificial barricades of any kind separated the viewer from the paintings. As a result, many visitors including myself craned their necks to within an inch or so of the paintings to examine minute details at close quarters (I was able to clearly see the two white highlights Vermeer placed on either side of the 'Girl's' mouth). Having plodded through many art museums before, the kiddos came prepared: graphite pencils and sketchpads. Bop walked room to room in search of a painting she wanted to try and draw for herself. Initially, she chose to sketch a marble relief of a cherub located above a door's frame. Next, she chose to draw a nymph attending Diana before occupying a seat directly across from 'Girl With a Pearl Earring.' Bop's sketches were quite good, and her 'Girl' picture was remarkable (it closely resembled his painting of another tronie). Log sprawled out on the parquet floor in front of Frans Snijders 'Still Life with a Dead Stag' and drew furiously. Littlest was drawn to floral still lifes and was taken with Rembrandt's 'The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp,' a rather morbid depiction. Many visitors stopped to look on as the kids drew and paid more attention to their roughly hewn renderings than the actual paintings.
Our little Winken, Blinken and Nod
In Delft, we participated in a Vermeer walk where we visited places of significance to the artist. The kiddos made a game of looking for the information cubes at each spot and took turns reading aloud.
Old Church which is mostly new after having been refurbished after a fire. J spent a great deal of time reading placards detailing the church's history.
The floor of Old Church was covered in stone memorials which often caused us to stumble. Littlest was a bit frightened by trodding on skulls and graphic images of death.
Vermeer is buried in the church in his mother-in-law's crypt. A more formal floor marker was placed in a roped off apse above which was a stained glass window commemorating the liberation of the Netherlands in 1945. The Nazis were depicted as dragons!
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