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Portrait of a Family Playing Music
Pieter de Hooch1663
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
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.
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Details
- Title: Portrait of a Family Playing Music
- Creator: Pieter de Hooch (Dutch, 1629–1684)
- Date Created: 1663
- Physical Dimensions: 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.)
- 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.
- Type: Painting
- Rights: CC0
- External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/1951.355
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Inscriptions: Signed lower left: "P D HOOCH/ 63"
- Fun Fact: During this period, the Dutch Republic was the richest, most urbanized nation.
- Department: European Painting and Sculpture
- Culture: Netherlands
- Credit Line: Gift of the Hanna Fund
- Collection: P - Netherlandish-Dutch
- Accession Number: 1951.355
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