She symbolises the fairest and sweetest things in
the Eleven Provinces. She makes Holland sacred ground.
Vermeer, although always a superb craftsman, was not always
inspired. In the next room to the "View of Delft" and the girl's
head is his "New Testament Allegory," a picture which I think I
dislike more than any other, so false seems to me its sentiment and
so unattractive its character. Yet the sheer painting of it is little
short of miraculous.
Among other Dutch pictures in the Mauritshuis which I should like
to mention for their particular charm are Gerard Dou's "Young
Housekeeper," to which we come in the chapter on Leyden's painters;
Ostade's "Proposal," one of the pleasantest pictures which he ever
signed; Ruisdael's "View of Haarlem" and Terburg's portraits. I single
these out. But when I think of the marvels of painting that remain,
of which I have said not a word, I am only too conscious of the
uselessness of such a list. Were this a guide-book I should say more,
mentioning also the work of the other schools, not Dutch, notably
a head of Jane Seymour by Holbein, a Velasquez, and so forth. But I
must not.
After the Mauritshuis, the Municipal Museum, which also overlooks the
Vyver's placid surface, is a dull place except for the antiquary.
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