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Portrait of a Family Playing Music
Pieter de Hooch, 1663
We do not know who the sitters in this painting are. But the clues to their wealth are everywhere, according to the Cleveland Museum of Art: the marble floor and mantelpiece, a Transylvanian prayer rug on the table and silk clothing.
A richly carved chest on the right supports Chinese vases and Japanese lacquered boxes, a reference to the busy Dutch trade with Asia. Music-making was a common activity at home and here it also stands for family harmony.
Pieter de Hooch is known for domestic interiors with carefully built space, where light enters from windows and doors and shapes each room. This canvas is about 99 by 117 centimetres without its frame.
From the museum record
| Artist | Pieter de Hooch |
|---|---|
| Date | 1663 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Size | Unframed: 98.7 x 116.7 cm |
| Museum | The Cleveland Museum of Art |
| Credit line | Gift of the Hanna Fund |
| Accession number | 1951.355 |
| Licence | Open Access (CC0) |
Source: The Cleveland Museum of Art collection record. Facts such as dates, sizes and credit lines come from that record. The write-up above was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the museum record and standard references. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
