Artwork
Portrait of a Family Playing Music
Portrait of a Family Playing Music is an oil painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Pieter de Hooch. It dates from 1663 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
As a portrait genre piece, it records a specific household moment, reflecting the era's interest in familial cohesion and private leisure.
The painting portrays a family in the act of making music, a scene identified by its title and classified as a portrait. The composition shows several figures with instruments, emphasizing a domestic setting typical of 17th-century Dutch portraiture. Executed in oil on canvas in 1663, the work is part of the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.
As a portrait genre piece, it records a specific household moment, reflecting the era's interest in familial cohesion and private leisure.
Technique & Style
Portrait of a Family Playing Music is executed in oil paint on canvas, a standard support combination for seventeenth-century Dutch easel painting. The 1663 work is classified as a painting within the portrait genre. Beyond the medium of oil paint and its canvas support, the available documentation does not provide further details on handling, condition, or specific stylistic characteristics.
History & Provenance
Portrait of a Family Playing Music was executed by the Dutch Golden Age painter Pieter de Hooch in 1663 in oil on canvas. It portrays a domestic scene of a family engaged in music-making, in keeping with the portrait genre of the period. The work is part of the Cleveland Museum of Art's collection.
The available sources do not specify a unique accession number or a detailed exhibition history for the painting.
Overview
Pieter de Hooch completed Portrait of a Family Playing Music in 1663, an oil painting characteristic of the Dutch Golden Age. This work captures a domestic scene, depicting a family engaged in musical recreation within a refined interior. It exemplifies de Hooch's focus on everyday life and his skill in rendering light and space, themes central to his oeuvre during this period of artistic prosperity in the Netherlands.
Context
Created during the Dutch Golden Age, a period marked by significant economic growth and artistic innovation in the Netherlands, this painting reflects the era's appreciation for genre scenes. De Hooch was active in Delft, a city renowned for its painters, where he worked alongside contemporaries like Jan Vermeer. His focus on domestic interiors aligns with the artistic trends of the time, which often celebrated the private lives of the burgeoning merchant class.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Pieter Hendricksz. de Hooch (Dutch:; also spelled Hoogh or Hooghe; bapt. 20 December 1629 – after 1683), was a Dutch Golden Age painter famous for his genre works of quiet domestic scenes with an open doorway. He was a…
