In
its old views of the city, which are among its most interesting
possessions, the evolution of the neighbouring Doelen hotel may be
studied by the curious--from its earliest days, when it was a shooting
gallery, to its present state of spaciousness and repute, basking
in its prosperity and cherishing the proud knowledge that Peter the
Great has slept under its hospitable roof, and that it was there that
the Russian delegate resided when, in 1900, the Czar convoked at The
Hague the Peace Conference which he was the first to break.
In one room of the Municipal Museum are the palette and easel of
Johannes Bosboom, Holland's great painter of churches. His last
unfinished sketch rests on the easel. No collection of modern Dutch
art is complete without a sombre study of Gothic arches by this
great artist. All his work is good, but I saw nothing better than
the water-colour drawing in the Boymans Museum at Rotterdam, which
is reproduced opposite page 132.
At The Hague one may also see, whenever the family is not in
residence, the collection of Baron Steengracht in one of the ample
white mansions on the Vyverberg. Most interesting of the pictures to
me are Jan Steen's family group, which, however, for all its wonderful
drawing, is not in his most interesting manner; a very deft Metsu,
"The Sick Child"; a horse by Albert Cuyp; a characteristic group of
convivial artists by Adrian Brouwer, including Hals, Ostade, Jan Steen
and the painter himself; and--best of all--Terburg's wholly charming
"Toilette," an old woman combing the head of a child.
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