Page 129 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - The Netherlands

MUSEUM QU AR TER  127

VISITORS’ CHECKLIST
Practical Information
Museumstraat 1. Map 4 E3.
Tel 020-6747000.
∑ rijksmuseum.nl
Open 9am–5pm daily. & ^
7 8 9 =
Transport
v 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 16.
4 Stadhouderskade.
. The Night Watch (1642)
The showpiece of Dutch
17th-century art, this vast canvas was
commissioned as a group portrait of
an Amsterdam militia company.

Gallery of St Catherine (c.1465)
Honour This sculpture by the Master of
Koudewater shows the saint stam ping
on Emperor Maxentius, who allegedly
killed her with his sword.

Ground
floor

Cuypers
Library

Entrance
Jan Steen’s Woman at her Toilet was painted in
about 1660
Genre Painting
For the contemporaries of Jan Steen (1625–
79), this cosy everyday scene was full of
Basement symbols that are obscure to the modern
viewer. The dog on the pillow may
represent fidelity, and the red stockings
the woman’s sexuality; she is probably a
prostitute. Such genre paintings were often
raunchy, but nearly always had a moral
twist – domestic scenes by artists such
as ter Borch and Honthorst were symbolic
of brothels, while other works illustrated
proverbs. Symbols like candles or skulls
indicated mortality.
Auditorium

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