The Courtyard of a House in Delft
 | |
| Artist | Pieter de Hooch |
|---|---|
| Year | 1658 |
| Type | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 73.5 cm × 60 cm (28.9 in × 24 in) |
| Location | Collection of the National Gallery, London, London |
The Courtyard of a House in Delft is a 1658 painting by Pieter de Hooch, an example of Dutch Golden Age painting.
This is a masterpiece of clear and direct depiction of domestic architecture typical of de Hooch's middle period. The building and courtyard seem to take precedence over the strangely detached figures in the painting. The stone tablet above the doorway was originally over the entrance of the Hieronymusdale Cloister in Delft. In English it reads: "This is in Saint Jerome's vale, if you wish to repair to patience and meekness. For we must first descend if we wish to be raised." When the cloister was suppressed this tablet was removed but can still be seen set into the wall of a garden behind the canal. The two adult figures can also be seen in Interior of a Dutch House (1658) and the woman in black and red can be seen in A Boy Bringing Bread (1663).
There are some subtle effects that are at variance with the overall impression of harmony. The brickwork of the wall on the right is in a sad state compared to the house on the left; there is an interesting double perspective that differentiates the two halves that are divided by the right edge of the archway and building above. Nature is making incursions to the well swept courtyard from the plant border on the right, the shrub above the couple's head and the vine obscuring the stone tablet.
The work was the subject of a poem by Derek Mahon.[1]
Notes
- ↑ Courtyards in Delft, 1981. Gallery Press. Detailed in Brown, Terence. The Literature of Ireland: Culture and Criticism, Cambridge University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-521-13652-5