An Interior with a Young Viola Player
About this artwork
This is the earliest dated painting by Dou. In it, a young musician looks up, his playing momentarily interrupted. Dou took evident delight in the play of light and shadow, and the rendering of surface textures, especially reflective materials. The musician is surrounded by books, music and a globe, which allude to learning. This reference is appropriate for Leiden, a distinguished university city, and the location of Dou’s workshop. Pieter Spiering, Swedish envoy in the Netherlands (1637-1649) offered the painting to Queen Christina of Sweden in 1652
Updated before 2020
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artist:Gerrit DouDutch (1613 - 1675)
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title:An Interior with a Young Viola Player
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date created:1637
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materials:Oil on panel
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measurements:Arched top: 31.10 x 23.70 cm; Framed: 55.80 x 47.50 x 9.80 cm / 5.00 kg
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased with the aid of the National Heritage Memorial Fund 1984
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accession number:NG 2420
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gallery:
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subject:
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artwork photographed by:Antonia Reeve
Gerrit Dou
Gerrit Dou
Dou specialised in small-scale meticulously painted scenes, astonishing in their precise detail and highly polished finish. He and his followers were known as Fijnschilders (fine painters). In Leiden, Dou trained as a glazier with his father, which might possibly have encouraged his fascination...
