Websites of Museum with Vermeer Paintings in their Collections

(part two)

Vermeer's 35 paintings are housed in 17 different institutions in northeastern American and Europe. Almost all of these institutions have a website in which their Vermeer painting are represented. Some have allotted only low quality images and minimum text while other, such as the Rijksmuseum, the Metropolitan of New York, and the National Gallery of Washington, provide navigators with in-depth information about their Vermeer's and many other important paintings in their collections. Furthermore, these select few also provide excellent tools for exploring various facets of art history such as timelines, essays on special topics, extraordinary zoom images and more. These sites have been signaled with four or five stars.

If you are traveling specifically to see a painting by Vermeer, always contact the museum beforehand to be sure it is on display at the moment. Paintings can be on temporary loan or in restoration.

Vermeer's Guitar Player in the in the refurbished Dining-Room
of the Kenwood House

part one  
The Rijksmuseum  Amsterdam, Netherlands
New York Metropolitan Museum of Art  New York, U.S.A.
National Gallery  Washington D.C. , U.S.A.
National Gallery  London, England
part two  
The Mauritshuis  The Hague
Frick Collection  New York, U.S.A.
Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Gemäldegalerie  Berlin, Germany
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Gemäldegalerie  Dresden, Germany
Städelsches Kunstinstitut Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Louvre Paris, France
part three  
Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum Brunswick, Germany
Kunsthistorische Museum Vienna, Austria
National Gallery of Ireland Dublin, Ireland
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Boston, U.S.A.
Kenwood House London, England 
The Royal Collection, Buckingham Palace London, England   
National Gallery of Scotland Edinburgh, England
Art Gallery, Wynn of Las Vegas Las Vegas, U. S. A
vermeer museums
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3

    • THE MAURITSHUIS

    Mauritshuis home pagehttp://www.mauritshuis.nl/index.aspx?siteid=54

    The core of the collection consists of masterpieces from the Dutch Golden Age, including paintings by Vermeer, Rembrandt, Steen, and Frans Hals. But there is much more to see. The works on permanent display provide a magnificent panorama of Dutch and Flemish art from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century; from Flemish primitives to sunlit landscapes, from biblical characters to meticulous still lifes, and from calm interiors to humorous genre scenes.

    The reduced size of this museum, plus the ambience and qualities of the pictures make the Mauritshuis one of the most congenial places for getting to know Dutch 17th c. painting. The gallery houses the Girl with a Pearl Earring, the View of Delft as well as an early work, Diana and her Companions.

    The Mauritshuis website has just been renewed which is finally worthy of its unique collection. The graphic layout is particularly refined and care has been taken to give ample and instructive information for those who wish to delve deeper into the collection. The renewed website now lists every painting in the collection and the most significant works. Naturally all three paintings by Vermeer and listed. Each work is accompanied by informative text, image details and in some case, interesting technical notes. zoom feature which allows the view to examine each picture at close range.

    museum links:

    museum information:

    location:
    Korte Vijverberg 8
    2513 AB The Hague
    P.O. Box 536
    2501 CM The Hague

    opening hours:
    Tuesday to Saturday 10.00 - 17.00 uur
    Sundays and holidays 11.00 - 17.00 uur
    Closed on Mondays, 25 December and 1 January.

    contact:
    tel: +31 (0)70 - 302 34 56
    fax: +31 (0)70 - 365 38 19

    email: communicatie@mauritshuis.nl

    museum shop:
    http://www.mauritshuis.nl/index.aspx?ChapterID=2420

    excellent poster of the Girl with a Pearl Earring, the View of Delft and other Vermeer-related gifts can be purchased on line through  the Mauritshuis gift shop, for information:

    contact: http://www.mauritshuis.nl/index.aspx?ChapterID=2420

    a view of the Mauritshuis
    Diana and her Companions, Mauritshuis
    Vermeer's Diana and her Companions

    The Mauritshuis has recently published a brand new introductory catalogue on Johannes Vermeer. This kind of publication, a handy volume, is of great use even in the Age of Internet. It is loaded full with crisp images of many Vermeer's paintings and numerous details and a host of relative documents and work of other artists. The text is expertly written and extremely informative. Especially valuable are the large reproductions of the three Vermeer's in the Mauritshuis collection: Girl with a Pearl Earring, View of Delft and Diana and her Companions. A fascinating state-of-the-art production.

    click here to purchase Vermeer: In The Mauritshuis

    vermeer museums
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
    • The Frick Collection

    THE FRICK COLLECTION

    Frick Collection home page http://www.frick.org/


    This truly unique collection in the heart of New York has a small, but certainly one of the finest collection of great Masters in the world. The Living Hall is filled with masterpieces by Holbein, Titian, El Greco, and Bellini, Rembrandt and Velázquez. In the long West Gallery, there are hung celebrated canvases including landscapes by Ruisdael, portraits by Rembrandt and Velázquez. The collection houses three exquisite Vermeers.

    Firck Collection home page

    The Frick Collection website has just been completely renewed, with excellent results. For Vermeer enthusiasts, the "Zoomify" feature allows the online viewer inspect in great detail all three of the collection's Vermeer's. This particular feature is at the moment  the most advantageous system to view Vermeer's, or any other artist's work on the web.

    museum links:

    museum information:

    location:
    The Frick Collection 1 East 70th Street (between Madison and Fifth Avenues) New York, NY 10021-4967

    opening hours:
    the collection is open six days a week: Tuesday through Saturday: 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Sundays: 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

    collection closed:
    Mondays New Year's Day Washington's Birthday Martin Luther King Day Memorial Day Independence Day Labor Day Columbus Day Thanksgiving Day Christmas Day collection limited hours: Open 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Lincoln's Birthday Election Day contact: tel: 212-288-0700 fax: 212-628-4417

    email:
    info@frick.org


    The Frick Collection garden

    Research at the Frick

    The Library’s book and photograph research collections relate chiefly to paintings, drawings, sculpture, prints, and illuminated manuscripts from the fourth to the mid-twentieth centuries by European and American artists. Known internationally for its rich holdings of auction and exhibition catalogs, the Library is a leading site for collecting and provenance research.

    The collections of the Frick Art Reference Library can be searched using the online catalog, FRESCO. It contains records for the book collection, photo archive collection, auction catalogs collection, microform collection, and electronic resources.
    FRESCO is available on site at the Library or off site using a computer with an Internet connection and a Web browser.

    FRESCO (Frick Research Catalog Online)
    http://fresco.frick.org


    vermeer museums
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3

    • THE LOUVRE

    Louvre home pagehttp://www.louvre.fr/llv/commun/home_flash.jsp/

    The Louvre's painting collection is one of the richest in the world, representing all periods of European art up to Impressionism. The Louvre's collection of French paintings from the 15th to the 19th century is unsurpassed in the world, and it also has many masterpieces by Italian Renaissance painters and Flemish and Dutch painters of the Baroque period.

    The department of medieval, Renaissance, and modern art objects displays the treasures of the French kings--bronzes, miniatures, pottery, tapestries, jewelry, and furniture--while the department of Greek and Roman antiquities (which includes Etruscan art) features architecture, sculpture, mosaics, bronzes, jewelry, and pottery. The department of Egyptian antiquities was established in 1826 to organize the collections acquired during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign. The department of Oriental antiquities is most important for its collection of Mesopotamian art. In 1954 a section of Christian antiquities was established to group Early Christian, Byzantine, and Coptic works including ivories, glass, ceramics, textiles, gold, and Greek and Russian icons.

    Since 1794, the Department of Paintings has been organized into national schools. At the end of the Grand Louvre Project, the Department of Paintings will cover an exhibiting area in the region of 17,850 m², which will be divided among the various schools.

    There are two Vermeer's in the Louvre's collection, The Astronomer and The Lacemaker.

    Firck Collection home page

    The Louvre, following the lead of other major museums, has recently renovated its website. A single page is dedicated to Vermeer's Lacemaker  including a top quality enlargements (with the picture's frame), a few choice details and basic information. Unfortunately, no image (and a bit of French text only) accompanies Vermeer's Astronomer.

    museum links:

    • The Lacemaker  ( click on the small painting for a rather good enlargement and below are links to access two excellent details)
    • Unfortuately, the website presents little or no information on The Astronomer.
    • Particularly interesting for Vermeer enthusiasts is Hoogstraten's View of an Interior, or The Slippers
    • Atlas, The Database of Exhibited Works of Art
    • Virtual Tour: An interactive view some of the most important rooms of the Louvre. First click here  and then click on the Paintings section link Afterwards, scroll down  and click on the "2nd Floor Richelieu wing.". By clicking on the "view" link to Holland, 2nd Half of the 17th Century link you may view the room where Vermeer's Lacemaker and Geographer are displayed, although both are rather difficult to make out. You will fair slightly better if you first click on the enlargement icon in the lower right-hand corner.

    museum information:

    location:
    Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre, Paris

    opening hours:
    The museum is open daily, except Tuesdays and certain public holidays, from 9am to 6pm.

    Evening openings until 9.45pm on Wednesdays and Fridays. The museum is closed on the following public holidays in the year 2004 : Thursday 1st January (New Year), Saturday 1st May (Labour Day), Thursday 11th November (Armistice 1918), Saturday 25th December (Christmas).

    contact:
    tel: +33 1 40 20 50 50 fax: +33 1 40 20 54 52

    email:
    info@louvre.fr

    postal address:
    Musée du Louvre F-75058 Paris Cedex 01 FRANCE


    Exploring the Louvre

    Atlas: Database of Works on Display in the Louvre

    Atlas allows the direct online consultation of 35,000 works of art exhibited in the Louvre. Online visitors can access the basic information displayed on labels accompanying works in the museum, together with authoritative commentary and analysis by the curators and staff. Visitors can carry out simple or advanced searches by keyword, artist, title, inventory number, medium, technique, department or room. Recent acquisitions are also highlighted. Atlas allows visitors to create a personalized album.

    When printed, the selected works are grouped by location within the museum (wing and floor number).

    Each entry in Atlas features:
    – the same essential information as the work's museum label
    – a photograph of the work in small and large size
    – directions to its location in the museum


    vermeer museums
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3

    • STAALICHE MUSEEN PREUSSISCHER KULTURBESITZ, GEMALDERGALLERIE

    Staatliche Museen home pagehttp://www.smb.spk-berlin.de/smb/de/home/index.php

    The Gemäldegalerie (Picture Gallery) possesses one of the world's finest collections of European art from the 13th to 18th century. After the collection was founded in 1830, it was systematically built up and perfected. The exhibition includes masterpieces by artists from every age of art history such as van Eyck, Brueghel, Dürer, Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio, Rubens, and Rembrandt.

    The museum houses two Vermeer's, The Girl with a Pearl Necklace and The Glass of Wine.

    The octagonal Rembrandt room enjoys a key position at the heart of the museum. The sixteen works by this artist form one of the largest and highest quality collections of Rembrandt paintings. They are flanked by additional gems of Dutch and Flemish painting of the 17th century. Portraits, genre paintings, interiors, landscapes and still-lifes illustrate certain artists' preferences for particular types of themes.

    Like other collections which house Vermeer paintings, the Dresden Gemäldegalerieseems not to take too much notice of the progress being made by more forward-looking institutions in regards to their internet presence.

    Unfortunately the gallery's web sites offers only a small, mediocre image of Vermeer's Glass of Wine from which little can be learned and fails to even furnish the most basic text.

    museum links:

    museum information:

    location:

    Gemäldegalerie Stauffenbergstraße 40 (Museum Entrance: Kulturforum, Matthäikirchplatz ) 10785 Berlin - Tiergarten opening hours: Mon closed Tue 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Wed 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Thu 10:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. Fri 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Sat 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Sun 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

    public holidays:
    On regular German public holidays, the museums are open at normal weekday opening times. Public holidays include: Good Friday, Easter Saturday, Easter Sunday, Easter Monday (always open), May Holiday, Ascension Day, Pentecost Saturday, Pentecost Sunday, Pentecost Monday (always open), Day of German Unity

    contact:
    tel: 030/2662101 fax: 030/2662103

    email:
    gg@smb.spk-berlin.de

    visitors services:
    besucherdienste@smb.spk-berlin.de



    vermeer museums
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3

    • STAATLICHE KUNSTSAMMLUNGEN, GEMÄLDEGALERIE

    Staatliche Museen home pagehttp://www.smb.spk-berlin.de/smb/home/index.php?lang=en

    The world renown of the Dresden Old Masters Picture Gallery is founded on its outstanding collection of high-ranking masterpieces. Among the primary focuses of its holdings are Italian painting of the Renaissance - as exemplified by major works of Raphael, Giorgione and Titian - as well as works in the Mannerist and Baroque styles. Of equal significance is the inventory of Dutch and Flemish paintings of the seventeenth century. Not only are Rembrandt and his followers represented with a large number of works of superb quality, but the collection also comprises paintings by Vermeer and Ruisdael and the great Flemish artists Rubens, Jordaens and Van Dyck.

    The gallery moreover presents major works of Old German and Old Dutch painting by artists such as Jan van Eyck, Dürer, Cranach and Holbein. Splendid paintings by Spanish and French artists of the seventeenth century – among them Ribera and Murillo, Poussin and Lorrain – are also to be found in the collection. Two works of Vermeer are a part of the collection.

    The Dresden Gallery offers a number of paintings in their online collection. The two Vermeer's can be accessed, hardly anything spectacular.

    The Old Masters Picture Gallery of the Dresden State Art Collections features a  new platform which allows navigators to view the great masterpieces of key importance for the history of art, such as Raphael’s “Sistine Madonna” or Giorgione’s “Sleeping Venus”. All the rooms of the museum have been reconstructed true to scale on the “Dresden Gallery” island in Second Life ® and all 750 masterpieces in the permanent exhibition are on display.

    museum links:

    to take a virual tour of the galery's Old master paintings, click here: http://www.dresdengallery.com./

    three thumbnail images of the two Vermeer paintings can be accessed by clicking here , and can be enlarged a bit with slightly more than mediocre results

     

    museum information:

    location:
    Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister Zwinger, Semper Building Theaterplatz 1 D-01067 Dresden

    opening hours:
    10 a.m. to 6 p.m., closed Mondays
    contact : tel: +49 (0)3 51 / 4 91 46 19 fax: +49 (0)3 51 / 4 91 46 16

    email:
    info@skd.smwk.sachsen.de


     


    vermeer museums
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3

    • STADELSCHES KUNSTINSTITUT

    Stadelsches Kunstinstitut home pagehttp://www.staedelmuseum.de/index.php?id=606


    The Städel collection contains masterpieces that bridge seven centuries of European art: featuring magnificent paintings representative of the major schools and epochs of painting from the early 14th century to the present. The Städel owns some 600 sculptures of which only a small part is on display. The interplay between 19th- and 20th-century paintings and sculptures particularly engages viewers. The collections contains one painting by Vermeer, The Geographer.

    Vermeer's Geographer, like many other works of this collection, is represented with little more than a detail of the painting and a brief description.

    museum links:

    The Geographer

    museum information:

    location:
    Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie
    Dürerstr. 2
    60596 Frankfurt am Main

    opening hours:
    Tuesday, Friday to Sunday 10 am to 5 pm
    Wednesday and Thursday 10 am to 9 pm
    Monday closed

    public holidays:
    24.12. (Fr) Christmas closed
    25.12. (Sa) 1. Christmas holiday 10 am - 5 pm open
    26.12. (So) 2. Christmas holiday 10 am - 5 pm open
    31.12. (Fr) Silvester closed
    1. 1. (Sa) New Year 11 am - 5 pm open

    contact:
    email:  info@staedelmuseum.de
    tel.  069 - 605098-200