Collection Online as of June 5, 2020

(Dutch, 1629-1684)

Oil on canvas

Framed: 124.5 x 142.5 x 7 cm (49 x 56 1/8 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 98.7 x 116.7 cm (38 7/8 x 45 15/16 in.)

Gift of the Hanna Fund 1951.355

Location

215 French, German, and Dutch

Fun Fact

During this period, the Dutch Republic was the richest, most urbanized nation.

Description

The identity of the sitters remains unknown, although the marble floor and mantelpiece, the Transylvanian prayer rug on the table, and the silk clothes all point to the family’s considerable wealth. Furthermore, the richly carved chest at the right supports Chinese vases and Japanese lacquered boxes, a reference to the flourishing Dutch trade with Asia. Music making often took place at home, and its appearance here also signifies the harmoniousness of the family.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Signed lower left: "P D HOOCH/ 63"

Provenance

James A. Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, First Baron Wharncliffe (1776-1845), 1833;

John Smith, London;

William Theobald, London, 1842 (sale: Christies’s, London, May 10, 1851, no. 76);

private collection, Yorkshire;

E. E. Cook, Bath;

[Scott & Fowles, New York], sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1951.

Citations

Smith, John. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters; In Which Is Included a Short Biographical Notice of the Artists, with a Copious Description of Their Principal Pictures; a Statement of the Prices at Which Such Pictures Have Been Sold at Public Sales on the Continent and in England; a Reference to the Galleries and Private Collections, in Which a Large Portion Are at Present; and the Names of the Artists by Whom They Have Been Engraved; to Which Is Added, a Brief Notice of the Scholars & Imitators of the Great Masters of the Above Schools. London: Smith and Son, 1829. Mentioned: v. IX, p. 571, no. 27

Hofstede de Groot, C. Beschreibendes und kritisches verzeichnis der werke des hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts; nach dem muster. Esslingen, Germany: a. N.: P. Neff, 1907. Reproduced: p. 518, no. 157; vol. 1

Rudder, Arthur de. Pieter de Hooch et son œuvre. Bruxelles, Belgium: G. van Oest & cie, 1914. Reproduced: p. 101

Burchfield, Louise H. "The Music Party by de Hooch, " The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art XXXIX, no. 6 (June, 1952): 121-123 Reproduced: p. 118

Newark Museum. Old Masters from American Collections : [exhibition] the Newark Museum, November 22, 1955-January 2, 1956. Newark, N.J.: Museum, 1955. Mentioned: cat. no. 13

Staring, Adolph. De Hollanders thuis, gezelschapstukken uit drie eeuwen. 's-Gravenhage, Netherlands: M. Nijhoff, 1956. Reproduced: p. 86, pl. X

The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 447 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 126 archive.org

William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, and Ralph T. Coe. Paintings of 17th Century Dutch Interiors. Kansas City: The Museum, 1967. Reproduced: cat. no. 5, p. 13, Listed p. 22

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 126 archive.org

Praz, Mario. Conversation Pieces; A Survey of the Informal Group Portrait in Europe and America. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1971. Mentioned: p. 184; reproduced: pl. 151

Eikemeier, Peter. "Das Familienbildnis des Emanuel de Witte in der Alten Pinakothek." Pantheon XXXII (1974): 255-261. Mentioned: p. 260, n. 6

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 162 archive.org

Thornton, Peter. Seventeenth-Century Interior Decoration in England, France, and Holland. New Haven, CT: Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art by Yale University Press, 1978. Reproduced: p. 42, fig. 48; mentioned: p. 405, n. 48

Sutton, Peter C. Pieter De Hooch (1629-1684). Thesis Yale University. 1979. Mentioned: v. 1, p. 51-54, 57; v. 2, p. 73-74, no. 54; reproduced: v. 3, p. 20, fig. 54

Sutton, Peter C. Pieter De Hooch: Complete Edition. Oxford, UK: Phaidon, 1980. Mentioned: p. 28-30, 92, no. 53; reproduced: pl. XII, pl. 57

The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. Reproduced: p. 246; Mentioned: p. 247-248

Broos, B. P. J., Edwin Buijsen, and Rieke van Leeuwen. Great Dutch Paintings from America. The Hague: Mauritshuis, 1990. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 36, p. 305-309

Ydema, Onno. Carpets and Their Datings in Netherlandish Paintings 1540-1700. Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK: Antique Collectors' Club, 1991. Reproduced: p. 52. fig. 45

Seaton, Douglass. Ideas and Styles in the Western Musical Tradition. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Pub. Co, 1991. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 172-173, fig. 13.1

Fiero, Gloria K. The Age of the Baroque and the European Enlightenment. Dubuque, IA: Brown & Benchmark, 1992. Reproduced: p. 53, fig. 22

Thomson, John Mansfield, and Anthony Rowland-Jones. The Cambridge Companion to the Recorder. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Reproduced: p. 82; Mentioned: p. 83

Kersten, Michiel, Daniëlle H. A. C. Lokin, and Michiel Plomp. Delft masters, Vermeer's contemporaries: illusionism through the conquest of light and space. Zwolle: Waanders Publishers, 1996. Reproduced: p. 157; plate 152

Wilschut, Arie Herman Josephus. Sporen: Geschiedenis Voor Havo 4/5. Groningen: Wolters-Noordhoff, 1996. Reproduced: p. 106, no. 17

Peeters, Jan. The Royal Palace of Amsterdam in Paintings of the Golden Age. Amsterdam,, NL: Royal Palace, 1997. Reproduced: pl. 18a

Sutton, Peter C. Pieter De Hooch, 1629-1684. Hartford, Conn: Dulwich Picture Gallery, Wadsworth Atheneum, 1998. Mentioned: p. 142-145

Fiero, Gloria K. Faith, Reason, and Power in the Early Modern World. 3rd edition, New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 1998. Reproduced: p. 6, fig. 22

Connell, Timothy C., and Jackson J. Spielvogel. World Art Transparencies. Cincinnati, OH: West Educational Publishing, 1998. Reproduced: p. 37

Vries, Jan de. "Luxury and Calvinism/Luxury and Capitalism: Supply and Demand for Luxury Goods in the Seventeenth-Century Dutch Republic." The Journal of the Walters Art Museum 57 (1999): 73-85. Reproduced: p. 79, fig. 5

Alpers, Svetlana. "De Hooch: A View with a Room." Art in America: An Illustrated Magazine 87, no. 6 (June 1999): 92-99. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 97-98

Kühlenthal, Michael. Ostasiatische und europäische Lacktechniken: internationale Tagung des Bayerischen Landesamtes für Denkmalpflege und des Deutschen Nationalkomitees von ICOMOS in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Tokyo National Research Institute of Cultural Properties, München, 11.-13. März 1999 = East Asian and European lacquer techniques : international conference of the Bavarian State Department of Historical Monuments and the German National Committee of ICOMOS together with the Tokyo National Research Institute of Cultural Properties, Munich, 11-13 March 1999. München: Lipp, 2000. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 27, fig. 1

Hollander, Martha. An Entrance for the Eyes: Space and Meaning in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2002. Mentioned: p. 156-157; Reproduced pl. XII

Westermann, Mariët, C. Willemijn Fock, Eric Jan Sluijter, and H. Perry Chapman. Art & Home: Dutch Interiors in the Age of Rembrandt. Denver, CO: Denver Art Museum, 2001. Reproduced: p. 142

Fiero, Gloria K. Faith, Reason, and Power in the Early Modern World. 4th edition, Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2002. Reproduced: p. 7 fig. 23

Franses, Michael, Rupert Waterhouse, and Christine Davis. East to West: Textile-Art 2004. London, UK: Textile & Art Publications, 2004. Reproduced: p. 32, fig. 25

Venturi, Robert, and Denise Scott Brown. Architecture As Signs and Systems: For a Mannerist Time. Cambridge,MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2004. Reproduced: 9. 189, fig. 335 and 336

Giltaij, Jeroen, and Peter Hecht. Senses and Sins: Dutch Painters of Daily Life in the Seventeenth Century. Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz, 2004. Reproduced: p. 67, fig. 60

Franses, Michael, Rupert Waterhouse, and Christine Davis. East to West: Textile-Art 2004. London, UK: Textile & Art Publications, 2004. Reproduced: p.32, fig. 25

Cunningham, Lawrence, and John J. Reich. Culture and Values: A Survey of the Humanities. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2006. Reproduced: p. 396, fig. 15.33

Franits, Wayne E. Pieter De Hooch: A Woman Preparing Bread and Butter for a Boy. Los Angeles, CA: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2006. Reproduced: p. 23, fig. 18

Aynsley, Jeremy, and Charlotte Grant. Imagined Interiors: Representing the Domestic Interior Since the Renaissance. London, UK: V & A Pub, 2006. Reproduced: p. 91, fig. 4.16

Shawe-Taylor, Desmond. The Conversation Piece: Scenes of Fashionable Life. London, UK: Royal Collection, 2009. Reproduced: p. 46, fig. 5

Fiero, Gloria K. Landmarks in Humanities. Boston, Mass: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2009. Reproduced: p. 290, fig. 10.34

Stevenson, Rachel. "'At Home' with the Eameses." In Camera Constructs: Photography, Architecture and the Modern City. Andrew Higgott, and Timothy Wray, eds., 61-72. Burlington: Ashgate Pub. Co, 2012. Reproduced: p. 71, fig. 4.6

Corrigan, Karina. "Asia on the Heregracht: Furnishing Amsterdam with Asian Imports." In Asia in Amsterdam: The Culture of Luxury in the Golden Age. Jan van Campen, Femke Diercks, and Janet C. Blyberg, 123-132. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2015. Mentioned: P. 127; reproduced: P. 125, fig. 2

Brook, Timothy. "Trading Places" Apollo: A Journal of the Arts 182, issue 636 (November 2015). Mentioned: p. 70-74; Reproduced: fig. 7

Miller, Tony. "17th Century Disruptors: The Dutch Rise to Dominance of the Chinese Porcelain Trade." Arts of Asia 47, no. 4 (July-August 2017): 103-117. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 103, fig. 1

Jansen, Anita, et. al. Pieter De Hooch in Delft: From the Shadow of Vermeer. Zwolle: WBOOKS, in cooperation with Museum Prinsenhof Delft, 2019. Reproduced: p. 188, fig. 24; Mentioned: p. 189

Exhibition history

Delft Masters: Vermeer's Contemporaries, Delft, Municipal Museum Het Prinsenhof, March 1 - June 9, 1996: [ p. refs. in accompanying book, see under literature].
Giltaij, Jeroen. Senses and Sins: Dutch Painters of Daily Life in the Seventeenth Century (Ostfildern-Ruit, Germany: Hatje Cantz, c2004), p. 237, fig. 1.
Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage (March 29, 2007 - July 8, 2007): "Masterpieces of European Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art"

British Institution, London, United Kingdom (1829).

Dutch Painting, The Golden Age. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 5-February 27, 1955).

Old Masters from American Collections. Newark Museum, Newark, NJ (organizer) (November 20, 1955-January 2, 1956).

25th Anniversary Exhibition. Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE (organizer) (November 29, 1956-January 2, 1957).

In Memoriam: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr.. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 4-April 7, 1958).

Paintings of 17th Century Dutch Interiors. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (organizer) (November 30, 1967-January 7, 1968).

Dutch Art and Life in the Seventeenth Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art (July 10-September 2, 1973).

Lutes, Lovers, and Lyres: Musical Imagery in the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 6-June 11, 1989).

Great Dutch Paintings From America. Mauritshuis (organizer) (September 25, 1990-January 13, 1991); Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Legion of Honor (February 16-May 5, 1991).

Delft Masters: Vermeer's Contemporaries. Museum Prinsenhof Delft (organizer) (March 1-June 2, 1996).

Pieter de Hooch. Dulwich Picture Gallery, London , United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (August 26-November 15, 1998); Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT (organizer) (December 20, 1998-March 14, 1999).

Masterpieces of European Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, Beachwood, OH (March 29-July 8, 2007).

Asia in Amsterdam. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (organizer) (October 17, 2015-January 17, 2016).

Pieter de Hooch in Delft: From the Shadow of Vermeer. Museum Prinsenhof Delft, Delft, Netherlands (organizer) (October 11, 2019-February 16, 2020).

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Portrait of a Family Playing Music

Pieter de Hooch

Location

Fun Fact

Description

Inscription